Janus

Aspen Center for Physics, Colorado, USA

JANUS

HEIGHT 4FT (1.2M)
POLISHED STAINLESS STEEL
AND PAINTED SURFACE
1995

"matter, antimatter, and the Big Bang"

 

Animation link

 

 

JANUS has come from three separate sources. Firstly the sculpture is named after JANUS, the Roman God, who guards `passages and doorways', looking both ways, `in and out'.

Secondly, our scientists are now discovering that the Universe is composed of both matter and antimatter, and I see the centre form of the sculpture as representing these two substances. The empty centre of the sculpture is where the Big Bang happened. The red ring is the Chinese symbol of Heaven.

Thirdly, what does our scientific knowledge mean to Modern Man ? I have found my own answer in the following lines from Milton's Paradise Lost.

In his Hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's Eternal store, to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created things:
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profunditie obscure,
And said, thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds,
This be thy just Circumference, O World.
  Janus again

The origin of Modern Man must lie in his `awareness', and his desire continually to ask questions, even though the answers only lead to more questions. But I believe that `in the vast profundity obscure', man has no bounds.


© Mathematics and Knots/Edition Limitee 1996 - 2002
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