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Suzanne Treister
The Cosmic Number
Suzanne Treister
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The Cosmic Number takes the form of an interactive image of a Kabbalistic tree of life where each sephirah leads further into the work.
137 is the number potentially at the root of the universe which describes the atom's fine-structure constant, a number that determines how stars burn, how chemistry happens and whether atoms exist or not, and which within the alphanumerical system of Gematria corresponds to the word Kabbalah.
The relationship of the fine-structure constant to light in physics parallels the Kabbalists' concept of connecting with light, or becoming enlightened by shedding the ego. For quantum physics pioneer Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), who enjoyed a long association, mathematics held one of the keys to the door between their two worlds, the number 137 exposing extraordinary links between physics and mysticism.
The Cosmic Number incorporates the idea of consciousness enhancing synchronous acausal connections or parallelisms, revealing pathways to potential ethically and spiritually focussed technological shifts and developments, as the ghost of Wolfgang Pauli's library and the cosmic number 137 enter the nascent system of the Blockchain.
Finally, as The Cosmic Number travels across the blockchain it passes through the 137 portal.
Suzanne Treister (b.1958), a pioneer in the field of new media since the late 1980s, works simultaneously across video, the internet, interactive technologies, photography, drawing, and watercolor. Often spanning several years, her expansive cross-media projects engage with eccentric narratives and unconventional bodies of research. The relationship between emerging technologies, society, alternative belief systems, and the potential futures of humanity constitute an ongoing focus for the artist.
Treister's work has been included in the 16th Istanbul Biennial, the 9th Liverpool Biennial, the 10th Shanghai Biennale, the 8th Montréal Biennale, and the 13th Biennale of Sydney. Forthcoming shows include ECLIPSE at the 7th Athens Biennale and ISKRA DELTA at the 34th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts. Recent solo and group exhibitions have been mounted at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2020); the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2019); the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017); the Victoria and Albert Museum (2016), London; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2015), among other venues. Her multipart Serpentine Gallery Digital Commission (2019) comprised an artist’s book and an AR work. From 2013 to 2021, with The Spaceships of Bordeaux, a triptych of monumental sculptures installed across the city, Treister has participated in the program of the Garonne Public Art Project. She is the recipient of the 2018 Collide International Award, organized by CERN, Geneva, in collaboration with the UK’s Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT). Treister lives and works in London.