25 November 2025

“Seeing the Unseen – Quantum Physics and Arts as Entangled Worlds” –Exhibition Opens on 4 December in Munich

On 4 December, the ERES Stiftung launches its new exhibition, “Seeing the Unseen - Quantum Physics and Art as Entangled Worlds,” an exploration of the quantum world. Marking the close of UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, the exhibition invites visitors to engage with ideas that have shaped the last century of physics – and are more relevant than ever today.

Quantum theory has transformed our understanding of reality: probabilities replace certainties, particles behave like waves and exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured. These concepts, formulated more than 100 years ago, continue to challenge our imagination. The ERES Stiftung, together with the support of the Excelence Cluster Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), creates an exhibition that brings these abstract ideas to life through contemporary artistic perspectives. As a scientific partner, MCQST contributes expertise, context, and connections to the quantum research community, fostering the dialogue between science, art, and the public.

The Quantum Beads Game by Steffen Glaser

The exhibition features approximately 20 artistic positions. Additionally, visitors can experience models of superconducting quantum computers and those that utilize neutral atoms. Artistic drawings by the charismatic quantum field theorist Richard Feynman are also on display. Among the highlights is the visualization model, which is likely to give Schrödinger's cat a run for its money: Prof. Dr. Steffen Glaser's ‘Quantum Beads Game’. Here, colourful spheres are used to playfully replace complicated mathematical formulas and explain phenomena such as entanglement and superposition in a clear and understandable way. You can read more about the work in the dedicated press release.

From micro to macro and back again

Tamiko Thiel has created a mixed reality space in which the visitor's body overlaps with the micro world of quanta and, through augmented reality, a qubit superposition can be experienced up close. Mehmet & Kazim expand and shrink their exhibition space from micro to macro and show painting as an overlay of possibilities that only intertwine in the act of seeing. Laser light pioneer Elsa Garmire, artist and scientist, lets flashes of light dance psychedelically across a screen. The artist trio Troika opens up a large space for reflection on the evolutionary history of humankind with a small collage of a hand axe and a wafer. And Ayoung Kim, a rising star in the international multimedia art scene, traces a speculative future scenario after a possible quantum revolution with her video ‘Delivery Dancer's Sphere’.
Parallel to the exhibition in Römerstraße, Paul Valentin and Tatjana Vall are showing ‘It is plain that all is hidden’ at ERES Projects in Theresienstraße 48, a large-scale installation centred around an impressive glass plate hologram.

A collaboration that opens new dialogue

MCQST is thrilled to collaborate with the ERES Stiftung on this timely and inspiring exhibition. By bringing together researchers, artists, and the public, “Seeing the Unseen” creates space for new conversations about quantum science – dialogs that will continue to unfold in the months ahead. The partnership reflects the shared belief that art and science, together, can spark fresh ways of seeing and understanding the invisible foundations of our world.

Text adapted from news by ERES Stiftung.

Upcoming events

The talks will take place in the German language.

• 8 December 2025, 19:00
  Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger between wanderlust and conflict. How a group of great thinkers turned the world upside down.
  Thomas de Padova, physicist, astronomer, science journalist, and author of “Quantum Light”
• 27 January 2026, 19:00
  The Quantum Beads Game: On Spins, Qubits, and Quantum Computers
  Prof. Dr. Steffen Glaser, TUM School of Natural Sciences
• 12 March 2025, 19:00
  Quantum cryptography: The key to secure communication
  Prof. Dr. Harald Weinfurter, LMU München & Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics
• 16 April 2026, 19:00
  Cooling, controlling, detecting: Individual atoms open new windows into quantum mechanics
  Prof. Dr. Johannes Zeiher
• 28 April 2026, 19:00
  The world's smallest sensor: a defect in a diamond
  Prof. Dr. Dominik Bucher, TUM
• 16 June 2026, 19:00
  Quantum computers: a revolution in the world of computing?
  Prof. Dr. Barbara Kraus, TUM

Photo © Ayoung Kim, Courtesy the artist and Gallery Hyundai