Seeing the Unseen

Quantum physics and art as entangled worlds

4 December 2025 – 26 September 2026

Dec 3 2025

ERES Foundation

An enticing glimmer. Warm gold and orange tones on a dark background. As soon as you radiance arouses curiosity. But what lies behind the motif - a quantum computer? The title suggests a connection to the quantum world. But what is the beacon on canvas all about? It is a portrait of a cryostat, the cooling structure of a superconducting quantum computer.

This uses qubits, microwave-controlled units of information that only function at extremely low and constant temperatures close to absolute zero (-273.15 °C), enabling fast, easily controllable quantum operations under a stable energy flow. The cylinder which consists of several concentric layers of gold metal and wining, serves to cool the actual quantum processor, which is located at the bottom - the coolest point - and is protected and shielded from interference by an elegant 'chandelier architecture. Tan Mu deliberately does not show the core. Instead, she transforms the rigid structure of the cryostat into a floating vision in oil. Soft, flowing, alluring. The artist, who was born in China and lives in the USA, masterfully contrasts classical painting with sensual colour accords, a fluid interplay of light and shadow, and a deliberately blurred' aesthetic with the peculiar beauty of a high-tech object. Tan Mu's multi-layered visual language builds bridges between the visible and the invisible, the concrete and the abstract. At the same time, the artist captures the uncertainties that quantum technologies provoke - from the diversity of their possibilities to how they are handled. With the introduction of the first commercial quantum computer, IBM O System One', in 2019, a fascinating field of research opened up for Tan Mu, which she has been exploring artistically ever since. She does not merely want to depict the complex apparatus that processes information using superposition and entanglement, which symbolises a paradigm shift in technological development and can be seen as a modern 'golden calf' associated with a great deal of hope. She is concerned with a profound reflection on a world full of hidden networks and connections. How do humans perceive themselves in this world, and how do they position themselves in a future that will be shaped by quantum computing and Al?

Mysterious, enigmatic and counterintuitive: anyone who ventures into the world of quantum physics often has to take a leap of faith. Particles that are also waves, probabilities instead of certainties, realities that only manifest themselves through observation: the world at the smallest scale defies our imagination, forms the basis for radically new technologies such as quantum computers, and also fascinates artists.

With the exhibition “Seeing the Unseen”, the ERES Foundation invites visitors on an interdisciplinary journey into the quantum world. One hundred years after the pioneering achievements of Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg and others, the latest scientific findings meet contemporary art. In the show, the themes of quantum physics intertwine in Elsa Garmire’s psychedelic laser shows, overlap in Tamiko Thiel’s mixed reality installation, and unfold in the expanding and shrinking spaces of Mehmet & Kazim or in Tan Mu’s painterly homage to the chandelier-like beauty of golden quantum computers.

With the excellence cluster Munich Center of Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST) the ERES Foundation has gained a cooperation partner that provides scientific support for the project. An outstanding lecture programme offers insights into one of the world’s leading epicentres of modern quantum physics – Munich.

Welcome to the parallel world of crazy tiny units. Perhaps you will be floating on “Cloud Q” as well after visiting “Seeing the Unseen”?

Artists: Dara Birnbaum, Herbert W. Franke, Elsa Garmire, Ayoung Kim, Alicja Kwade, Roman Lipski, Jonas Lund, Mehmet & Kazim, Tan Mu, Semiconductor, Thomas Struth, Paul Talman, Tamiko Thiel, Troika, Agustina Woodgate, and others