Conjuring the Void - The Art of Black Holes

An evocative and richly illustrated exploration of modern art about black holes. Inescapable and mysterious, black holes have long captured the imagination of visual artists, even before their existence was first confirmed in 1971. In Gamwell looks at how certain themes within the science of black holes--nothingness, emptiness, darkness, void, silence--are prominent in traditional Eastern thought traditions as well as in modern abstract art. She also considers the work of contemporary artists such as Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Takashi Murakami, and Danh Vō, and discusses how they have explored these themes and more in their artworks. The book concludes with a look forward, describing dramatic developments in the imagery of black holes and their changing influence on visual culture.

About the author

Lynn Gamwell teaches the history of art, science, and mathematics at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is the former director of the Art Museum of the State University of New York at Binghamton, a coauthor of Dreams 1900–2000, which won a 2000 Gradiva Award, and the author of Exploring the Invisible and Mathematics and Art.

Product details

• Authors: Lynn Gamwell, Gamwell Lynn, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Assisted by: Neil deGrasse Tyson (Foreword)
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 21.10.2025
• EAN: 9780262049962
• ISBN: 978-0-262-04996-2
• No. of pages: 208
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Astronomy; ART / Subjects & Themes / General, NATURE / Sky Observation, Art treatments & subjects, Astronomy, space & time, Popular astronomy & space, Popular astronomy and space, The Arts: treatments and subjects, Astronomy, space and time, SCIENCE / Space Science / Astronomy