Agustina Woodgate: More Heat Than Light

Location: Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
When: 14 September - 15 December 2024
Opening: Saturday 14 September 2024, 17:00 - 20:00 hrs

Stroom Den Haag proudly presents More Heat Than Light, artist Agustina Woodgate's first solo exhibition in the Netherlands. More Heat Than Light will invite visitors to immerse themselves in an installation focusing on the relationship between temperature and information. The exhibition is to integrate four projects into an installation that will fill the entire exhibition space at Stroom.

More Heat Than Light  is the outcome of a three-year long research project on quantum communication. On the occasion of the exhibition, Woodgate has collaborated with QuTech, the Dutch research institute for quantum computing and quantum internet. Throughout her investigation, the artist has gotten exclusive access to visit the laboratory and work alongside the scientists. This process coincided with the moment scientists at QuTech undertook an experiment in pursuit of quantum entanglement: the connection of two particles without physical transportation. This experiment worked towards a first demonstration of quantum communication on a metropolitan scale, in this case from the laboratory in Delft to a KPN test center in The Hague. 

Using factors from QuTech's scientific experiment - diamonds, lenses, time and temperature - More Heat Than Light translates the complex dynamics of quantum technology into a relatable, tangible exhibition setting for a wider audience.

The individual artworks are based on the same materials used in QuTech's laboratories: diamonds, lenses, time and temperature. More Heat Than Light translates the complex dynamics of quantum technology into a palpable and tangible exhibition environment for a wider audience.

Woodgate is known for her sculptural work that reveals the impact of abstract and invisible structures on our daily lives. The physical scale of a quantum connection remains unfathomable. It takes place on a subatomic scale, too minute to observe with the naked eye.  

More Heat than Light is part of Woodgate's Infrastructures  series, a long-running set of projects within her practice that focuses on the poetics and politics of infrastructures and how they resonate in public and private spaces. Woodgate works with engineers, scientists and urban planners to produce unorthodox and context-dependent systems. Woodgate's Infrastructures present societal alternatives from a critical perspective.

Agustina Woodgate (b. 1981) lives and works in the Netherlands and Argentina. Her sculptural and conceptual practice encompasses spatial interventions, objects and installations. She explores how information technology conditions the social fabric - and thereby society - and determines access. She researches systems, the associated value theories and design logic operating in the urban environment. Woodgate has shown her work at the 12th MediaCity Biennial, Seoul; 2019 Whitney Biennial, New York; IX Berlin Biennial; IV Istanbul Design Biennial; Kulturpark, Berlin and KW Institute for Contemporary Art.

Public program
More Heat Than Light is accompanied by a program of tours, talks, and related activities:

> 14 September, 17:00 - 20:00 hrs: Opening 
> 27 September,19:00 - 23:00 hrs: Hoogtij #78
> 12 October, 19:00 - 00:00 hrs: Museumnacht Den Haag
> 9 November, 16:00 - 17:30 hrs: Quantum Frequencies Rountable
> 29 November, 18:30 - 22:00 hrs: HOOGTIJ #79
> 6 & 7 December: iii & Stroom Den Haag
- Friday 6 December: 19:30 - 22:00 hrs, ii
- Saturday 7 December 15:30 - 18:30 hrs, Stroom Den Haag

More Heat Than Light is made possible thanks to the generous support of Creative Industries Fund NL, Mondriaan Fund, Gallery Barro, Amarte Fund and the Municipality of The Hague.