Artists

Isa Genzken, Man Ray, Cerith Wyn Evans, Tomás Saraceno, Mark Leckey, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Elaine Sturtevant

Press release

The Quantum Effect An exhibition by OGR Torino and SMAC Venice Curated by Daniel Birnbaum and Jacqui Davies Quantum physics, with its paradoxes and radical new perspectives on space, time and reality, offers new ways of looking at the world, opening up a space for reflection and dialogue between scientific research and contemporary artistic practices. The exhibition The Quantum Effect explores the impact of quantum theory on visual culture, investigating how concepts such as entanglement, superposition, parallel universes, teleportation and dark matter have permeated cinema, popular culture and contemporary art. Following its debut at SMAC Venice (San Marco Art Centre), The Quantum Effect opens to the public at OGR Torino from 31 October 2025, presenting a new site-specific configuration conceived for Binario 1. Curated by Daniel Birnbaum and Jacqui Davies, the exhibition brings together works by some of the most significant figures on the international art scene, including Cerith Wyn Evans, Isa Genzken, Tomás Saraceno, Mark Leckey, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Elaine Sturtevant and Man Ray. The exhibition invites visitors to engage with new ways of perceiving and interpreting reality, bringing together installations, video works and references spanning different artistic languages and disciplines in dialogue with the theories and imaginaries of quantum physics. The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive programme of related initiatives, including the presentation of an infinity mirror room by Yayoi Kusama, one of the most influential artists of our time. The installation The Eternally Infinite Light of the Universe Illuminating the Quest for Truth invites visitors to explore ideas of infinity, the perception of space, and the dissolution of boundaries between the individual and the universe. The wider The Quantum Effect programme also includes a film programme presented in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, featuring a selection of works that resonate with the exhibition’s themes. Drawing on cinematic references that have informed the curatorial vision – above all the enigmatic black monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – the programme explores the connections between film, perception and speculative imaginaries. These reflections are further developed by the curators in the volume The Quantum Effect, published by Verlag Walther und Franz König and conceived as an object whose form echoes the monolith, as well as through a series of public conversations exploring the influence of quantum theory on contemporary art and culture.