Allegory of the Infinite Mortal

Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth

The infinite has a potential existence There will be no actual infinite. Aristotle Is space infinite? Is time infinite? Is there an immortal soul? For Allegory of the Infinite Mortal we created a model tableau representing human contemplation of the infinite. It is not so much about infinity or immortality as it is about the scientific and philosophical structures mankind has used throughout history to explore the concepts of infinity and immortality and our place therein. A circular garden around a central fountain of youth (modeled on Klaus Webers LSD Fountain, 2003) provides a space for a gathering of historical figures who created models of thought that have influenced the way we think about the infinite. Gardens are spaces of both man and nature separate from both the city and the untamed jungle and created for contemplation and elevation of the soul. A mixture of philosophers, mathematicians, and others populate this garden, from Brahmagupta, the first century mathematician credited with giving us the number zero, to our saint of immaculate immortality, Henrietta Lacks, who died of cancer in the 1950s, but whose biopsied cells became the first immortal human cell line, not only surviving to this day, but saving countless lives through the medical research they allowed. Beyond the safety of the garden lies the vastness of an endless sea populated by monsters of the unknown void. Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world as of 2010, rises from the sea like the Tower of Babel into a sky filled with angels, some in the form of biologically immortal jellyfish and human heLa cells. Referencing both the holographic principle and celestial depictions of divinity, the angels and light flood out a tunnel in the heavens. A rain of binary code falls across the sky from a demons open mouth as his jaws return all created things back into undifferentiated matter. As part of an archway framing the sky and inspired by early Jain and Hindu thinking about the infinite, the demon also represents Kirttimukha, devourer of time and symbol of life feeding upon itself for survival. Atop the arches and against the starry void beyond the sky sit an observatory and a church, representing the two paths mankind tends to take in his exploration of the infinite. In his search to expand limits of knowledge, mankind examines the smallest elements and the farthest reaches of his world. Both science and religion turn to allegory to represent what we cannot see for ourselves.

Allegory of the Infinite Mortal Border

Tapestry Key

The border shows a scientific representation of space, which we continue to explore and ponder with the very limits of our science and intellect. 1. Hubble Images Images from the Hubble telescope go through a translation process to make them accessible for human contemplation. The representations we see of these images are translated into color spectrums the human eye can see. Griffith Observatory - representing mankinds use of science to extend the furthest reaches of mankinds knowledge and understanding. Mayfly - Mayflies have the shortest lifespan of any animal on earth. The lifespan of an adult mayfly can vary from just 30 minutes to one day depending on the species. The primary function of the adult is reproduction; the mouthparts are vestigial, and the digestive system is filled with air. Notre Dame - representing mankinds use of religion to extend the furthest reaches of mankinds knowledge and understanding. Demon - Demons known as kalas are frequently used in architecture in India and Southeast Asia. They appear over doorways with disembodied heads and bulging eyes, a row of upper teeth, and ribbons of flowers, foliage or pearls disappearing into their open mouths. The mythic kala devours all in his path, serving as a reminder that everything in the natural world is eventually consumed by time. As part of an archway framing the sky and inspired by early Jain and Hindu thinking about the infinite, the demon also represents K i r t t i m u k h a, devourer of time and symbol of life feeding upon itself for survival. A rain of binary code falls across the sky from the devils mouth as his jaws return all created things back into undifferentiated matter, breaking down the forces that organize life and matter. 6. Makara considered a protective animal and used in Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu archways. It is often depicted, as in this tapestry, vomiting forth the world. We first became interested in this symbol when we saw it used in archways at the Astrologers Seat at Fatehpur Sikri in India.

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30. Big Bang Gib Gnab A representation of the theory that the universe could collapse, initiating another Big Bang, so that the universe would last forever,

but pass through infinite phases of expansion (Big Bang) and contraction (Big Crunch). This representation also alludes to DNAs double helix. 31. Galileos telescope - represents our quest to find the bounding limits of the infinitely large. 32. Darwins microscope - represents our quest to find the ultimate building block of everything. Sky The sky, the spiritual depiction of space, is shared by iconography from a melding of science and religion. The tunnel in the sky references both the holographic principle of black holes (in which the universe is a holographic projection from the event horizon of a black hole) and historic paintings depicting a celestial heaven and empyrean all-fire. 7. Moon - symbolic of the Albedo stage of Alchemy associated with the female and purification. The moon is also associated with the female in a variety of religions Phoenix symbol of eternal resurrection and cyclical immortality. Skylab Icarus

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10. Sun - symbolic of the Citrinitas stage of Alchemy associated with the male and enlightenment. The sun is also associated with the male in a variety of religions. 11. Six Winged Angel Non-anthropomorphized entities such as these were once understood as allegorical before religion, in competition with the growing influence of science, became more empirical. 12. Turritopsis nutricula called the immortal jellyfish, this medusa (adult jellyfish) can revert to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature. Theoretically, this process can go on indefinitely, effectively rendering the jellyfish biologically immortal. 13. Angel of Death represents the fear of ones own mortality that contemplation of the infinite can entail. 14. HeLa cell (1951-present) the first immortal human cell line, living and reproducing outside of a human body.

15. Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world as of 2010, rises from the sea as our Tower of Babel. 16. Monsters in the Deep fear of the unknown. Used in early maps to represent uncharted territories. 17. Fire on Water Represents the Philosophers Stone aka living gold that which is both fire and water and only attainable by the perfect human. The Formal Garden The formal garden is an enclosed human space representing contemplation and elevation of the soul. It is a space representing neither the City representing commerce, the jungle representing untamed nature, nor the Palace representing power. The concentric circular structure references garden labyrinths used for contemplation. Eden is described in Genesis as a beautiful garden enclosed by circular walls and filled with life-giving waters and fruit trees. 18. Platonic Solids while the number of 2 dimensional regular polygons is infinite, these five solids are the only 3-dimensional regular polyhedrals, representing the constriction of infinite possibility with added dimensionality. 19. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is depicted holding the bust of his philosophic predecessor Aristotle (384-322 BC) and represents the evolution of philosophical understanding of the infinite. 20. Ouroboros represents eternal return and cyclical nature 21. Johannes Keppler (1571-1630) German mathematician and astronomer who found the 3 fundamental laws of Planetary Motion describing the earth and planets revolving around the sun. He built on Nikolas Copernicuss (1473-1543) heliocentric model using Tycho Brahes (1546-1601) exacting observations of planetary motion. These laws were later used by Newton (1642-1727) to establish his Laws of Universal Gravitation. 22. Fountain of Youth represented here by Klaus Webers LSD Fountain, 2003, the fountain of youth has long symbolized mans quest for immortality. 23. Timothy Leary (1920-1996) In his later life life, Timothy Leary became interested in extending the human lifespan. His quest for immortality included plans to have his head cryogenically frozen as well as exploring early theories of downloading personality into digital media. In the end he was cremated, but a portion of his ashes were sent into orbit in the Pegasus rocket.

24. Blue Roses Blue roses signify the never-ending quest for the impossible. They are not found in nature and serve as the trigger for a reality check, much like the spinning top in Inception or the White Rabbit of Alice in Wonderland or The Matrix. 25. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) and Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Modern computing, which is directly descended from the work of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, has evolved to the point where computers are able to derive natural laws, which may otherwise be inaccessible by current science, from observed data by discovering invariants mathematical expressions that remain true in a changing system. 26. Brahmagupta (598-670) - seventh century Indian mathematician and astronomer who was the first to use zero and develop rules for use of zero and negative numbers. 27. Tortoise as well as having one of the longest lifespans of any terrestrial animal, hinting of Darwins travels in the Galapagos, and being key to the common expression used to describe infinite regress in cosmology (turtles all the way down), the tortoise represents Zenos (~450 B.C.) paradox of motion illustrated by his parable of Achilles and the Tortoise. 28. Kurt Godel (1906-1978) Mathematician who established his Incompleteness Theorems that mathematically prove that there are problems that cannot be solved by any set of rules or procedures. We have paraphrased this to mean that there is no singular unifying solution. 29. Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) - our saint of immaculate immortality died of cancer in the 1950s; however, her biopsied cells became the first immortal human cell line, not only surviving to this day, but saving countless lives through the medical research they allowed. The square halo signifies that the wearer is still living on earth when the tapestry was woven and has not yet been officially sainted. 30. see above in The Border 31. see above in The Border 32. see above in The Border