Tidal Disruption: An Unforgettable Encounter with a Black Hole

TL;DR

The paper describes the creation and presentation of an art installation called 'Tidal Disruption' that visually and audibly depicts a star being consumed by a black hole, blending art and astrophysics for public engagement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interdisciplinary art-science sculpture that visually represents a tidal disruption event, combining scientific accuracy with artistic expression.

Findings

Viewer engagement and response analyzed

Successful depiction of astrophysical phenomena

Effective collaboration between artists and scientists

Abstract

The annual GLEAM outdoor art exhibition features curated, large-scale light installations in the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. With submissions from local, regional, and international artists, the annual two-month long event draws tens of thousands of visitors each fall. "Tidal Disruption", an art-science light sculpture representative of the form and behavior of a tidal disruption event, debuted at GLEAM 2022.The installation was a collaboration between artists Hosale and Abdu'Allah, and astrophysicist Madsen. The immersive light and sound exhibit stylistically depicted the death of a star as it spirals into a black hole in a roughly 4 minute sequence. Designed primarily by Hosale, the components were custom fabricated using clear PVC pipe at the Physical Sciences Laboratory at UW-Madison. In this poster, we will describe the process of developing, fabricating, and installing "Tidal Disruption" and the response from the viewers.