Black Hole Laboratories

Editorial / Science Illustration • Cover & Interior • The Institute for Advanced Study • 2022
Painting of a black hole laboratory in a retro-futuristic style. Researchers observe glass screens displaying black hole graphics in orange. In the room's center: a giant glass sphere containing a model black hole with orange accretion clouds, surrounded by a viewing balcony.
Photo of the cover of IAS: The Institute Letter. Featuring art of a black hole laboratory in a retro-futuristic style.

FOR
The Institute for Advanced Study - The Insitute Letter, 2022. Thanks to Lee Sandberg, Genevieve Looby, and Alison Carver.

WORK
Concepts, illustration

TOOLS
C4D, Clip Studio Paint, Procreate

INFO
Retro-futuristic sci-fi cover and interior illustrations for The Institute Letter, Fall 2022 issue: Black Holes as Laboratories. The digital edition is available for free, here.

The Institute for Advanced Study's founding principle was "the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake" — basic science. The IAS is well-known as the academic home to scholars incl. Einstein, Gödel, von Neumann, et. al.

Researchers at the IAS today continue to make major breakthroughs in theoretical physics and mathematics. I've art-directed / illustrated / photo-edited articles about some of their work: Nima Arkani-Hamed, June Huh, Juan Maldacena, Nathan Seiberg, Akshay Venkatesh, Edward Witten.

Painting of a black hole laboratory in a retro-futuristic style. Researchers observe glass screens displaying black hole graphics in orange.

Interior illustration

To display on the steampunk / aetherpunk screens (inspired by antique brass instruments), I conceptualized of and created graphics based on real black hole physics and characteristics: Kerr black holes, black hole anatomy, donut-shaped accretion disks, charge, rotation, gravitational effects, and binary systems.

Sketch of a black hole laboratory in a retro-futuristic style. Researchers observe glass screens displaying black hole graphics. In the room's center: a giant glass sphere containing a model black hole with accretion clouds, surrounded by a viewing balcony.

Concept sketch

"A black hole contained in a forcefield sphere with funnel-shaped glass surrounding it, representing gravitationally-warped spacetime. Researchers in lab coats* on floor interact with readouts while others observe on the deck."

* I broke one of my own rules: physicists (especially the theoretical sort) don't typically wear lab coats. It's a silly trope I try to avoid. But in this fantasy scene, in what appears to be a sterile space with some seriously dangerous equipment, I thought they could have a uniform :)

Screenshot of The Institute Letter online

Screenshot of the cover on the IAS website

© Olena Shmahalo