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Since 1985, I have collaborated with scientists and computer technologists
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) to visualize
astrophysical data of supercomputer simulations. I am an artist who works
with a team of specialists to solve problems in the visualization of
scientific data. I coined the term "Renaissance Teams" in 1986 to describe
this type of collaboration. The process of scientific visualization
involves the translation of numbers into computer graphics time-lapsed
visuals. The artist is involved at several levels of participation,
including the design, color, choreography, and editing of the visuals.
Over the years, it has become apparent that these visualizations are
extremely popular with general audiences and have had an impact on the way
that many people view the universe. I have been involved with many
visualizations of the formation of the early universe. Modern Big Bang
scientific theorists believe that the universe formed over 15 billion years
ago and that galaxies formed on filaments to create the structure of the
universe that is understood today. I have collaborated on three major
projects involving Big Bang data from supercomputer simulations. One of
these projects opens June 15, 2001, at the Hayden Planetarium's new Big
Bang Theater in New York City. Over 10 million people have seen these
images in large-display, general audience, immersive environments. What is
of interest to my research is how these images play a role similar to
mythological images historically, in telling the story of creation. Like
images of mythologies of the past, these modern scientific models are
painting a new view of the universe and providing a modern creation myth.
My CAiiA research involves the investigation of correspondences among
creation mythologies and modern scientific models. Dating back to
historical creation myths involving goddesses, we find narratives of
cosmology involving heroines and heroes. However, in the research of Carl
Gustaf Jung, we find a psychological approach to explaining mythology. He
defines myth as any widely held belief that cannot be proven. Such a
definition casts a wide net and includes contemporary mythologies,
including the belief in superhuman aliens, as well as the story of creation.
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| Creation Myths are ubiguitous in all cultures: Here is the Venus de Willendorf and an Aboriginal storyboard |
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According to Jung, myth making is an on-going activity. We humans socially
and personally construct myths employing the latest digital technology. As
a researcher and visualization expert, I have witnessed similarities in the
visual forms of ancient myths and contemporary visualizations of cosmology.
These visual similarities are found in the branching of forms and tree-like
structures that emerge from the imagery. The Ancient Mayans were great
astronomers and used their view of the night sky as inspiration for
mythological tales of a ëcosmic monsterí and the creation of the universe.
These people used the best technology and primitive science to relate these
stories to the general public. Likewise, today, we find that humans are
employing some of the best technology and science to tell the story of
creation to large, general audiences.
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| Venus in Time by Donna Cox, 1990 |
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The mythologist Claude Levi-Strauss believed that the purpose of
mythologies is to provide an imaginary solution to real world problems.
Modern scientific visualizations also provide similar solutions.
Scientists observe the natural world and its phenomenon, such as observing
the behavior of thunderstorms. Many of these scientists developed
mathematical models that are computed in supercomputers in order to
describe and predict natural phenomenon such as the formation of
thunderstorms. This process of building and computing mathematical models
of nature is called computational science. The art of scientific
visualization is the translation of these billions of numbers into visual
information that humans can understand.
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| Astrophysical Jet by Donna Cox and Michael Norman |
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Computational science and scientific visualization was an important part of
the making of Cosmic Voyage, an IMAX film about the relative scale of
things in the universe. These new technologies of supercomputing and
visualization were employed to artistically render images for this movie.
Galaxies colliding in swirling paint-like effects are some of the beautiful
images from this movie that help to tell the tale of creation. In addition
to visualization and supercomputing, other technologies were used to create
Cosmic Voyage.
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| Alliance Grid high speed network to link virtual environments |
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Robert Patterson, Marcus Thiebaux and I created Virtual Director, a
software framework that operates in a CAVE. Virtual Director is a
choreography and navigation system, which not only enables the creation of
visualizations; it also provides remote virtual collaboration capabilities
via the Internet. We used Virtual Director to create scenes for Cosmic
Voyage. It provides a network capability to connect to different people
in remote locations. It operates in the CAVE virtual environment, a
room-size, rear-screen projection system that allows one to see the images
in 3-D stereo, in real-time. Tele-immersion is when several of these CAVE
or virtual environments are linked together over the network. We have used
Virtual Director to interactively work with scientists in remote locations
and to meet in cyberspace in order to create the visualizations. When we
meet in cyberspace, we have our independent points of view, and can
navigate independently. However, we share the same environment and see
one another as avatars. We share camera paths and see each otherís camera
viewpoint on suspended virtual televisions.
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| Avatars meeting in Cyberspace over the Grid using Virtual Director software |
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Avatars are visual metaphors for the human in cyberspace. The term comes
from Eastern Mythology and relates to mythological construct of the
incarnation of god on earth. In virtual reality, this term relates to the
incarnation of human in virtual space. The ancients have constructed
architectural environments and art to disseminate information to large
groups of people. Likewise, moderns have constructed similar
architectural, immersive environments to convey stories and information to
the masses of people.
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| Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, Where millions of people see science in a virtual environment |
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At the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, American Museum of Natural
History, we have collaborated to create an exhibit in the large digital
dome, which holds 440 people and has provided an immersive experience to
over 2 million people in last couple of years. The Passport to the
Universe 17-minute show is narrate by Tom Hanks and employs many of our
digital visualizations of the large-scale structure of the universe as well
as the local galactic structure near the Milky Way galaxy. We worked with
the Hayden Planetarium staff via remote virtual collaboration from our CAVE
in Illinois to the New York City dome. In addition to this exhibit, we
collaborated with Hayden to provide imagery for their Big Bang Theatre
exhibit, which occupies another portion of the dome structure. Here, we
provided scientific simulations of the Big Bang evolution of the
large-scale structure of the universe. The story of creation is being told
to a wide audience via the latest technology and scientific theory today.
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| Galaxies colliding in Intergalactic Space |
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Such exhibits reach millions of people and provide visual metaphors in an
edutainment form (educational entertainment). In addition to the exhibits,
we have provided many visualizations of astrophysics to broadcast,
high-definition television. These narrations provide a social function
that is similar to mythological art of the past because they construct a
view of reality to large audiences and these stories are supported with the
best technology of the era. Jung and Levi-Strauss provided contemporary
definitions of what mythologies are to culture. Contemporary models in
science are providing much of this functionality. Advanced technologies
including computer visualization, supercomputing, virtual reality, and the
Internet are the substrate on which these stories of creation are being
told, and these stories are constructing our realities and point to many
correspondences among mythologies and modern models in science.
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| Sacred Ceiba Tree as picture of the universe: heaven, earth and hell |
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