Quantum art installation lands in New York City
It took a little over a year from concept to completion, but Teleportation Disk is finished and has been installed in its home in New York City.
Teleportation Disk is an art installation about quantum computing, also using quantum computing as a core component in generating the composition. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first and only quantum computing-generated art installation in New York City (at the time of writing in June, 2022). I’m very proud of how it turned out and I hope after reading this you too will agree that quantum computing is a viable technology for creative expression worthy of large-scale art installations.
One sentence explanation
Teleportation Disk is a relief sculpture that showcases a simple quantum teleportation circuit run on a state-of-the-art IBM quantum system, and then visualizes the circuit as rings emanating outward.
A brief summary
Quantum computing is a new field, and the building or accessing of actual quantum computers is even newer. Quantum computing has solely been in the hands of scientists and researchers until recently. However, in the past few years, a handful of artists, musicians, and other creative types have started exploring quantum systems as a part of their creative practice. I am one of those artists, and I hope that someday there will be many more artists using this technology and possibly even a quantum art scene. I hope that Teleportation Disk helps legitimize quantum computing as a viable expressive medium that more artists can begin getting involved in.
My goal in creating art with quantum computing is to be authentic to this new form of technology by leveraging the capabilities that are unique to it, while showcasing what is new and different about quantum mechanics. Teleportation Disk is part of an art series titled Quantum Circuit Disks, and it achieves these goals by venerating the fundamental algorithms used to program quantum computers. There are several seminal algorithms that have pushed the field of quantum information science forward, and Teleportation Disk showcases one of those seminal algorithms: quantum teleportation. I will get more into the quantum teleportation aspect in the deep dive below, but first, let’s talk about the artwork itself.
Accurately visualizing quantum mechanics at the deepest level is impossible, but the effects of quantum mechanics are ubiquitous as the fundamental building blocks of our world. Quantum Circuit Disks therefore showcase cornerstone quantum algorithms in the form of relief sculptural installations and pen-plotted print pieces. Inspired by rippling water as an analogy for quantum mechanics, this series shows the effects of quantum algorithms as rings radiating out from a quantum circuit.
The New York City installation showcases a three-qubit version of the quantum teleportation protocol run on a Falcon r5.1 IBM Quantum processor. The piece considers the circuit in two layers, with each ring representing the effects of the circuit up to that point after it has been run on the quantum hardware. The results of each run are visualized as circles radiating out from the circuit layer, generating the composition of concentric circles. The composition, physical materials, and quantum algorithm used in this artwork are together a snapshot of our progress in the field of quantum computing to date, while also representing the hurdles that we need to overcome to move the field forward.
Deep Dive
The remainder of this blog will break down how this series was conceptualized and executed, including the physics, the programming, and the artistic decisions made along the way. The code for this art series is available from Github here. Feel free to follow along and play with the code, but note that the datasets returned from the quantum systems (henceforth referred to as quantum data) have been removed. Each piece of this series uses a different quantum algorithm, but I will be focusing on Teleportation Disk for this write-up.
About the physics
The quantum circuit used in the installation is quantum teleportation, specifically the implementation used in the Qiskit Textbook. Quantum teleportation was originally published by IBM physicist Charlie Bennett, and is a technique for sending quantum information. I chose this circuit as a nod to the distributed nature of the IBM Quantum team in that the team is constantly sharing quantum information around the globe. This art series could be used to showcase any quantum algorithm, so long as it can be broken down into gates we can run on present-day quantum computing systems.
Despite present-day limitations, we can run the quantum teleportation on quantum hardware because of the deferred measurement principle. To quote from the Qiskit textbook about deferred measurement:
“The IBM Quantum computers currently do not support instructions after measurements, meaning we cannot run the quantum teleportation in its current form on real hardware. Fortunately, this does not limit our ability to perform any computations due to the deferred measurement principle… The principle states that any measurement can be postponed until the end of the circuit, i.e. we can move all the measurements to the end, and we should see the same results… While moving the gates allows us to demonstrate the “teleportation” circuit on real hardware, it should be noted that the benefit of the teleportation process (transferring quantum states via classical channels) is lost.”
Although the benefits of the teleportation process are lost in this version of the circuit, that does not affect the artistic intent of this composition. The point of this piece is to showcase cornerstone quantum circuits and examine the execution process in a new way using IBM Quantum’s current state-of-the-art hardware. This goal is not inhibited by moving the measurements to the end.
About the programming
Though it is impossible to see the state of a quantum circuit halfway through an execution, this piece imagines the progress of a circuit by rebuilding and running the circuit layer-by-layer. I begin by transpiling the circuit to 1 and 2 qubit gates that can be run on IBM Quantum systems. I then break the circuit down into individual layers — groups of gates that a processor can run simultaneously. I reassemble those layers into circuits, one layer at a time. Each circuit adds the next layer on each consecutive run until I have recreated and run a the completed circuit with all of the layers. In doing so, it’s possible to visualize the execution of each step of the quantum algorithm. In total, the piece runs 16 circuits, with each circuit execution recorded individually, creating 16 different datasets to create the composition. The following code snippet is an example of what the first couple of circuits looked like (For the actual code that was run to generate these circuits, see the Github repo here).
# first circuit
circuit.rz(pi/2, 1)
circuit.measure_all()# second circuit (building on first)
circuit.rz(pi/2, 1)
circuit.sx(1)
circuit.measure_all()# third circuit (building on second)
circuit.rz(pi/2, 1)
circuit.sx(1)
circuit.rz(pi/2, 1)
circuit.measure_all()#forth circuit (building on third)
circuit.rz(pi/2, 1)
circuit.sx(1)
circuit.rz(pi/2, 1)
circuit.cx(1, 0)
circuit.measure_all()
I apply the dataset from each circuit to a ring of the final composition, as follows:
I draw a circle for each circuit layer with a radius that matches the circuit layer’s distance from the center of the composition. The circle is broken into a series of line segments. The quantum data are composed of strings of binary values, from 000 to 111, as returned by our 3 qubit quantum system. Those binary values are converted to the integers 0–7 (Note: this conversion follows standard binary to interger conversion, but the decision to do so is completely an artistic decision). Each item of the dataset (now a number between 0 and 7) is applied to a line segment of the ring by adding its value to the diameter of the segment at each position, creating the pattern visible in the final composition.
The negative spaced/white segments in the composition are error values in the quantum data. I employed a quantum simulator in order to determine what an error means at each layer: All of the same quantum circuits were initially run on a quantum simulator in order to determine the correct values. In some cases, circuits could have multiple correct values, up to and including all 8 values. For example, layers 10–13 had all 8 values marked as correct in their key. This doesn’t necessarily mean there were no errors because the distribution of values wasn’t perfectly even, but it is impossible to say which value was specifically an error, and thus no errors are shown for these layers on the final composition.
This is a quirk of the artistic decisions made in the composition and a side effect of the data loss in measuring quantum systems. Although we are able to see the values returned at each layer in the quantum circuit, the quantum state is collapsed and the quantum information is gone. I still find it interesting to get a glimpse at the quantum system over time, but this isn’t the equivalent of “looking inside the black box” of the quantum system used.
About the composition
The final composition is partially determined by me as an artist and partially determined by the quantum system. As a generative artist, my goal is to create a composition that is centered around a quantum circuit but having the execution of the circuit be the area of primary visual interest. I used the metaphor of rippling water as a starting point because of the way the ripples in water dissipate over time. I originally hoped to show how quantum information eventually succumbs to decoherence, but as I explored circuits and hardware, I found that the effects were much less predictable than originally hypothesized, depending on the circuit. However, making generative quantum art is a process of discovery in which portions of the creative process are given over to the quantum system. Ultimately, I didn’t know what the final composition would be, but that’s a key part of making art with quantum systems.
The Quantum Circuit Disks series takes influence from art-historical precedents, such as modernists like Wassily Kandinsky, Jasper Johns, and Alexander Calder. I look specifically to this era of art for inspiration as these artists were pioneers in exploring abstraction, especially Kandinsky. Some of his most meaningful contributions to the world of art are his explorations in visualizing sound as he saw it through his synesthesia. He invented visual metaphors so that he could generate artworks based on what he saw when he heard music. Quantum art is similar in that I hope to give a visual language to the fundamental (albeit invisible) laws of nature as a way of creatively interpreting quantum mechanics, similar to how Kandinsky tried to visually express music.
About the fabrication
Teleportation Disk’s materials reference our quantum hardware and the heritage of IBM Research. The piece is mounted to a louvered wooden wall, similar to the walls in the Yorktown Heights research lab designed by Eero Saarinen where IBM Quantum systems were conceived and built. The piece itself is created with aluminum and brass as a nod to the metals of the quantum cryostat. Although the actual quantum computing systems are made from different metals, it was important for the piece to be fabricated with similar visual qualities. The circular composition is a nod to today’s dilution refrigerators as appearing circular when viewed from the bottom.
Light is a key component in Teleportation Disk. As noted above, incorrect computational values from the quantum system are rendered as light holes in the final composition. These gaps can be likened to light leaks in a camera. Light leaks decrease the overall “correctness” of an image and some information is lost. However, light leaks can be used as a part of the artistic composition while still conveying the overall image. In this piece, the light is an opportunity to acknowledge the errors in state-of-the-art systems as a snapshot of what is possible today, and incorporate them into the composition instead of trying to downplay them. To visually balance the composition, the entire piece sits on a light box that makes the pieces stand off the wall while using the light to make the wall and the art piece feel connected.
Summary
Seeing quantum mechanics directly may be impossible, but it is possible to produce creative interpretations of quantum effects. As the practice of quantum computing continues to mature, so, too, will our ability to interpret and wield quantum mechanics as a form of creative expression. The Teleportation Disk is an exultation of the technology we are currently building and the inherent mystery of quantum mechanics, as well as a glimpse into the creative potential of quantum computing.
Thank you
This installation was a huge effort that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of so many wonderful individuals who volunteered their time to advise me on all the various aspects, from the science to the fabrication. Thank you so very much to Michael Kriegshauser, Paul Kassebaum, Josiane Emorine, Liz Durst, and everyone else who in some way made this installation a reality.
By Russell Huffman, artist and designer with IBM Quantum, based in Austin, Texas. The above article is personal and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
