We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chris Klapper & Patrick Gallagher. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chris Klapper below.

Chris & Patrick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Finding inspiration in the impossible

Our most recent artist residency was an incredible and unpredictable deep dive into the world of quantum physics at the renowned Fermilab, America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory.

Our multidisciplinary installation, DATAATADATA: Everything and Nothing centered on a 30 day performance where we created a 20 ft x 16 ft mandala. Using the raw data of a subatomic particle collision, we painstakingly laid out the image with powdered marble dust. This project connected us with Fermilab and gave us the opportunity of a lifetime. Fermilab gave us special access to the projects and scientists working on the bleeding edge of scientific discovery.

This was an extraordinary and eye opening view of the creativity involved with big science and the many different processes involved at this level of research. Among the first things learned was the sacrosanct rule of exploration – You do not risk coercing an outcome, you follow the path to where it leads.

This simple wisdom nugget is worth sharing as it is not only a primary rule of research, but a beautiful and philosophical principle to live by.

NASA, but in the opposite direction

Counterintuitive as it may sound, the idea that space on the quantum scale is equally as expansive as exploration of outer space can be difficult to grasp. There is a kind of ‘“aha” moment when you understand that in the precision and scale of studying the infinitesimal, it is equally as vast and awe inspiring as the search for stars and galaxies in the observable universe.

We like making people think about complex ideas. The goal of our artwork is to share inspiration points and “ahas” that might not readily present themselves. We translate these ideas into an artist expression that we hope encourages viewers to find rabbit holes to explore.

Chris & Patrick, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are a creative team based in Brooklyn, NY. Our work is multimedia and multidisciplinary. Our subject matter is driven by specific projects, environments and experiences. Overall, we look to explore new technologies and to use them to express immense ideas on a human scale; employing sound, sculpture, video, projection mapping, composites, digital new media and performance.

Collaboration has merged our individual strengths, expertise and visions, and propelled each project into more ambitious and uncharted territories. As example, our current and ongoing series, #DATAATADATA, concentrates on the conceptual theme of the beauty of information, the complexities of higher-dimensional mathematics, the intricacies of particle physics and the poetry of numbers.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Our drive has been to create work that resonates and connects people to ideas that engage their sense of inspiration and wonder.

When we first exhibited Symphony in D Minor, there were over 1000 people at the opening. It was incredible to watch how people reacted and how it offered them the chance to open up to their inner child and sense of play. People often returned to visit the installation for more intimate experiences, sometimes laying under the sculptures enjoying the peacefulness of the wind and the sky, while other times running between the clouds creating their own bombastic storms.

While sculpting a subatomic collision, Everything and Nothing, we interacted with thousands of people on the subject of particle physics and the study of the universe. Our goal was to offer a glimpse into a complex world. Among our most favorite aspects of that exhibition was witnessing the sense of awe when viewers began to grasp the overall concept and ideas we were trying to communicate in the work.

Expressing immense ideas on a human scale can sometimes inspire people in ways that may change their perspectives. Inspiration can be a door into how we view our world and how we see ourselves within it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

If anything, our work shows that you should never underestimate where inspiration might come from. It is all about exploration and following ideas wherever they may lead. Years ago, we never would have imagined we’d be creating work about particle physics and the complexities of higher-dimensional mathematics. And yet, we have found these fields to be incredibly inspiring and see them not as esoteric knowledge, but beautiful expressions within the language of the Universe.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chrisklapper.com/ , https://patrickgallagher.nyc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisklapper/ , https://www.instagram.com/patrickgallaghernyc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-klapper-8b5ab817/ , https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-gallagher-1439651b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@patrickgallagher8285
• Other: https://vimeo.com/52500195 https://vimeo.com/514422576 https://vimeo.com/103959896

Image Credits
Image of us credit : cyc_eye Symphony in D Minor credit : Ken Schuler All other images: Courtesy of the Artists