Somerset House Studios: Libby Heaney

Libby Heaney’s work takes quantum physics as a starting point, (re)examining systems through a quantum computational lens in interactive installations and participatory events. She uses its counter-intuitive concepts (such as contextuality, entanglement and superposition) to explore resonances with other fields and develop new languages around quantum science. Her works include Time’s Tattarratttat, an interactive projection controlled by the palindromicity of words; Lady Chatterley’s Tinderbot, an AI bot conversing on Tinder with dialogue drawn from D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover; and Sensory Apparatus, an installation exploring how user behaviour can be altered by advertising.

Libby has a degree in physics from Imperial College London, a PhD in Quantum Information Science from the University of Leeds and held post-doc positions at the University of Oxford and the National University of Singapore. Seeking to explore science from a wider range of viewpoints, Libby retrained as an artist at Central St. Martins.

She has exhibited with the Science Gallery, Dublin; Tate Modern; Blitz Gallery, Valletta; Arebyte Gallery and also Point B, New York, and is currently working on a research project with the V&A Museum. She is a research tutor at the Royal College of Art where she runs the Systems Research Group and has published around 20 internationally peer reviewed research papers in physics and art.

Whilst on the residency at Somerset House Studios, Libby will further develop an artistic language around quantum physics using virtual and digital technologies. She is currently making a living quantum space using the HTC Vive and collaborating with the Centre for Quantum Photonics at the University of Bristol making the first artworks with early stage quantum technologies.