Referencing Conceptual Art with Scientific Concepts Trends in the Art World

Artists like Laure Prouvost, John Latham and Salavatore Garau Make Giant Leaps with Science Crutches for their Conceptual Works 

The UN declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, heightening awareness of the potential breakthrough and marking a century since the field of quantum mechanics was established.

For artists, this technology, Quantum computing in art opens new creative possibilities—establishing a new medium. Its potential uses breakthrough from the existing imagination. It also brings quantum principles into large-scale applications, centring the counter-intuitive nature of reality at the micro-scale. This begins a wider-scale shift in how we understand the world and advancements in science as probing the depths of reality in the way that artists also do.

Quantum Computing in Art and How Artists Navigate It

Artist Laure Prouvost, known for her exploration of kinship and migration and her playful, sensory approach has a history of interest in scientific concepts, dating from her time working for John Latham, a Northern Rhodesian-born British conceptual artist. Latham welcomed artists and scientists to do research together at Flat Time House and referred to his own work in quantum mechanical terms. According to Bettina Kames who works for LAS Art Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Berlin and writes at The Art Newspaper, together, Prouvost, Neven, Rees and LAS began a series of exchanges, which led to the forthcoming project WE FELT A STAR DYING—Prouvost’s major new commission with LAS Art Foundation, opening at Kraftwerk Berlin on 21 February.

To make this work, Prouvost had unprecedented access to a quantum computer at Google and a specially developed quantum AI model. Her work represents unique patterns of “noise” or tiny fluctuations within the computer and throws light on the innate sensitivity and instability of these systems—even a star dying in distant space can destabilise it. Together with these experiments, Prouvost forges a general enquiry into the topic of quantum, through sculpture, video, sound and scent, in the vast space of Kraftwerk Berlin.

Invisible Sculpture Art and Garau’s Viral Work 

The future of virtual reality art installations in the world of conceptual art progresses to merge with science uniquely. In 2021, Italian artist Salvatore Garau decided to take the concept of “less is more” to a completely new level by selling something that was not even there, making it invisible to the eye. Salvatore Garau sold an “immaterial sculpture” titled *Io Sono* (“I Am”)

Garau in this way was not just selling nothing—he used science and physics to justify the “nothing”. According to the artist, Io Sono isn’t a space; it’s a philosophical space, brimming with the kind of energy that makes physicists nod thoughtfully and the rest of us scratch our heads.

Future of Science in the Field of Art 

He’s saying, you can’t see it, but according to quantum mechanics, even nothingness is something. So, technically, you are not buying “nothing” rather you are buying the idea of nothing, which is somehow everything. By invoking the Heisenberg uncertainty principle he argues that even a vacuum has weight and energy. So, in his mind, Io Sono isn’t just a blank space—it’s a cosmic playground where particles might pop into existence, and you, the viewer, are the one to validate the presence of the artwork. This kind of invisible sculpture art tries to defy the future of digital art, contemporary art and what can be considered a smash on the market. Salvatore Garau’s viral work sold for 15000 euros on the market putting the viewers of art in a conflicted position to decide what qualifies as art.
Garau’s approach to scientific inquiry allowed him to conceptualise the work into existence, which brings us to the presence of scientific materiality in the mediums of artists and how it can bring out new possibilities for the artists and the consumers of art.

Feature Image Courtesy- Instagram.