The Spacetime of Fine Art - Issue 61: Coordinates
▻http://nautil.us/issue/61/coordinates/the-spacetime-of-fine-art
This article is part of Nautilus’ month-long exploration of the science and art of time. Read the introduction here. I recently came across this diagram of time and space: It puts the observer at the intersection of two converging cones of light, one representing the past and the other the future. Physicists use the diagram to think about relativity and spacetime, and to decide whether two events or objects can ever have interacted (they can’t if they’re not in each other’s cone). The diagram also reminds me of the experience of making a painting. I stand at a point in front of the easel. The past meets the present on the tip of my brush, and I glimpse a visual world that seems to be arriving from a future that is just out of sight. I’m not unique in this mindset: Painters have been (...)