The Sound of Entanglement Team
The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington DC (ACF DC) proudly presents the performance lecture The Sound of Entanglement during this years’ Science Diplomacy Summit at the JHU Bloomberg Center.
Experience the second quantum revolution as a musical spectacle: Lasers, mirrors, non-linear crystals – an experimental setup from the high-tech laboratory live on stage. An Austria-wide team of artists and scientists have set themselves the goal of making the quantum mechanical phenomenon of entanglement audible.
The performance lecture is followed by a reception.
ABOUT THE JHU SCIENCE DIPLOMACY SUMMIT 2025
On April 14 and 15, the Johns Hopkins Science Diplomacy Summit 2025 will bring together stakeholders from across the globe to engage on some of the most pressing scientific topics of our day, including research security, artificial intelligence, quantum information science and technology, climate change innovation, health, space diplomacy, polar diplomacy, and more.
Summit attendees—U.S. and international government officials, researchers, academics, practitioners, and industry leaders—participate in thematic pod discussions designed to foster an exchange of ideas, build and strengthen transnational partnerships, share the latest research, and forge evidence-based policy solutions.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE LECTURE | April 14, 2025 | 4:45 – 5:35 PM
A laser is used to create entangled pairs of light particles, so-called photons. Entangled particles lose their individual properties but have a particularly strong relationship to one another, no matter how far apart they are. Albert Einstein called this phenomenon “spooky action at a distance”. The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 was awarded for experiments that demonstrated this behavior. Today, entanglement is the backbone of modern quantum information technologies, such as quantum computation and quantum cryptography.
In the performance, the entangled pairs of photons take on the role of conductors: The two musicians play in real time, based on the measurement data they receive. Accompanied by live visuals, which are also steered by the quantum experiment, a sensual symbiosis of music, visual art and modern research is created. The performance is preceded by a short, accessible physics lecture that sheds light on the phenomenon of entanglement and the special way in which this experiment can be used to make art.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Clemens Wenger | Composer, Electric Piano, Synthesizer
Manu Mayr | Electric Bass
Enar de Dios Rodríguez | Artist, Visual Design
Martin Ringbauer | Experimental Physicist, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Johannes Kofler | Theoretical Computer Scientist, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Richard Küng | Theoretical Computer Scientist, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Alexander Ploier | Theoretical Computer Scientist, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Benjamin Orthner | Experimental Physicist, TU Wien – Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Philipp Haslinger | Experimental Physicist, TU Wien – Vienna University of Technology, Austria
The Sound of Entanglement is supported by TU Wien – Vienna University of Technology, University of Innsbruck, Johannes Kepler University Linz and the Excellence Cluster quantA of the Austrian Science Fund.
Photos: The Sound of Entanglement