intrigo

Experience of quantum mediation through augmented concrete: a multidisciplinary approach at the intersection of sustainable matter and digital.

The INTRIGO collective is made up of Jean-Ambroise Vesac, artist and professor at the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon, Bora Ung and Kaiwen Zhang professors at the École de technologie supérieure (ETS).

The objectif is to co-create a collective space to explore new disruptive ideas by linking media arts and engineering specialties beyond our respective fields of research in information technology, advanced and sustainable materials, digital arts, cultural mediation, and human-computer interaction.

Co-creation residencies since May 2022

Collaborative processes to share project visions

Welcoming a large number of participants and collaborators, the project aims to be innovative, thanks to the multiple contributions of artists, engineers and students.

The project aims to shed light on the key principles of quantum mechanics (superposition of states, corpuscle-wave duality, entanglement) for the general public and bring them to realize their fundamental implications for the information technologies of the future following a playful and artistic approach.

Blockchain technologies are used to certify the artistic and scientific process of creation, confer ownership rights, collect and collect visitor interactions within the evolution of the work in its digital and physical environment.

The project addresses the intelligibility of digital environments.

The exposition

INTRIGO offers a multi-dimensional experience in which the user enters a totally immersive universe.

In order to better understand the experience the user is about to embark upon, the first part of the experience will consist of viewing explicative video vignettes, putting the project into context by understanding the creative process through which the team developed the final structure, through an exhibition of the various prototypes and ideas explored during the project. This is the first phase, dedicated to contextualizing and understanding the project.

The second, and most interactive, phase of the experience is not visible in the first part, but is easily accessible as it is located behind two overlapping walls, allowing access to move from one part to another.

Thanks to this openness, the entire ambience of the experience can be globalized by a tripartite environment: 

Once the user is immersed in this overall ambience, it's as if he or she is transported into the world of the project, in which his or her senses and perception are called upon, with sound as the common thread running through the experience.

On the wall separating the exhibition, a reactive audio mapping emanating from the sounds produced by the second part of the project seems to surround the user, the room becoming the interior of a living entity that surrounds us.


He can then cross this wall to enter the second part of the experiment, where he'll find the source of the random sounds he's been hearing since he entered.

It's the result of the artistic vulgarization of the Bloch sphere (a quantum mechanical concept). In which the connected points are covered by a noise, being scanned by a red line. The random nature of the Bloch sphere's representation upsets its points, randomly changing their positions, indefinitely redefining the melody produced by the constancy of the red line.



Opposite this random, absorbing vision is a triangular structure, traversed by light, which is the structural artistic representation of the principles of quantum mechanics. In front of this is a display stand with a smart tablet. It's time to begin the participatory side of the experience.

The user can choose to move towards the tablet to become an active participant in the experience, or take the time to let himself be carried away by the visuals from which the sounds he has been hearing since the start of his immersion. 

If he chooses contemplation, sitting on one of the decompression benches, he will find himself absorbed and hypnotized by the random way in which the digitized material evolves.

If, on the other hand, the user feels like taking part in the experiment, he or she can grab the smart tablet. Once the application has been launched and the user has filled in his or her details (e-mail address and password), he or she will be presented with the various tasks required to understand the main principles of quantum mechanics. 

This will involve interacting with the structure in three ways: firstly, to understand the identity of the quantum particle; secondly, to understand its principles: entanglement and superposition; and thirdly, to understand its usefulness.

Once these tasks have been completed, the player can then receive his reward, a Non Fungible Token marking a phase of the structure influenced by his choices within the game.

Aware of the scientific principles that surround him, he can then return to the first part of the experiment to head for the exit and review the creative process, understanding in turn why and how the artistic development of this project took place.

Technical needs

To ensure that the experiment runs smoothly, we recommend a room that can be divided in two (using walls, dividers or drapes). 

The list of equipment required includes :