Aspen Center for Physics,
(Height 4ft 1.2m)
HEIGHT 4FT (1.2M) POLISHED STAINLESS STEEL
AND PAINTED SURFACE 1995
"Matter, antimatter, and the Big Bang"
Janus has come from three separate sources. Firstly the sculpture is named after Janus, the Roman God, who guards `passages and doorways', looking both ways, 'in and out'.
Secondly, our scientists are now discovering that the Universe is composed of both matter and antimatter, and I see the centre form of the sculpture as representing these two substances. The empty centre of the sculpture is where the Big Bang happened. The red ring is the Chinese symbol of Heaven.
Thirdly, what does our scientific knowledge mean to Modern Man? I have found my own answer in the following lines from Milton's Paradise Lost.
In his Hand He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's Eternal store, to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created things:
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profunditie obscure,
And said, thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds,
This be thy just Circumference, O World.
The origin of Modern Man must lie in his `awareness', and his desire continually to ask questions, even though the answers only lead to more questions. But I believe that `in the vast profundity obscure', man has no bounds.
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