Phoenix Café Bar, Leicester
2nd October 2025 - 29th December 2025
(Except Tuesdays and Wednesdays)

Free Artists Talk: 6:30pm 17th November 2025

We're very happy to be showing this new exhibition of artwork made with and inspired by the exciting field of Quantum Computing. Artists are often among the first to explore the potential of new technologies such as this, and we hope you find the exhibition enlightening.

The work on display features 10 prints each by Ernest Edmonds and Jonathan Knoblauch, together with a Quantum Tango interactive work that forms part of a network with live artworks in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Mayfair, London. Your image may be displayed as part of the interactive work, but images are not retained.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a talk from the artists on 17th November 2025.

• Quantum Computer Art Images

• Quantum Computer Art Poster

• Quantum Computer Art Notes

Exhibition organised by Sean Clark from the Computer Arts Archive in collaboration with Interact Digital Arts and the Computer Arts Society.

The United Nations have designated 2025 as the Year of Quantum Science and Technology.

Quantum Computing (QC) is an emerging technology that harnesses the principles of quantum mechanics to solve problems that are practically impossible for classical computers to handle. Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that explores the behaviour of matter and energy at the smallest scales—such as atoms and subatomic particles.

QC has been hailed as the next giant leap in computing, with the potential to address complex challenges in fields such as chemistry, climate modelling, cryptography, healthcare, and finance—areas where classical computing often falls short. For example, it is estimated that modelling climate change accurately would require all of the world’s current supercomputing power running for around 3,000 years. In contrast, an appropriately scaled quantum computer operating at just 1 MHz could achieve this in about an hour, thanks to a quantum property known as superposition.

The scale required for a practical quantum computer is still a subject of ongoing research and debate, as new algorithms and emerging technologies continue to reshape expectations. Nonetheless, the exponential advantages QC promises in targeted applications explain why it is so highly sought after today and in the future.

Whilst Logic is central to conventional computing, Quantum Logic is more appropriate in QC. Quantum logic deals with the complexities and uncertainties that are integral to QC, with the simple logical bit (either 0 or 1) replaced by the qubit, which, in effect, has a probable value of 0 or 1.

Alongside its practical applications, our work also explores another dimension of quantum computing: the underlying beauty and hidden imagery that emerge from quantum effects and subatomic particle interactions. These phenomena offer fresh perspectives and visual interpretations not seen before, bridging science and art in new and imaginative ways.

Ernest Edmonds is a pioneer computer artist for whom combining creative arts practice with creative technologies has been a lifelong pursuit. The first time he used a computer to make an artwork was in 1968. In 2017, he won the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital. That year, he was also awarded the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award for Practice in Human-Computer Interaction. Having shown his work internationally for over 55 years, he has recently exhibited in Venice, Leicester, London, Denver, Chicago, Vancouver, Sydney, Beijing, Shanghai, and Rio de Janeiro. Ernest is an Emeritus Professor at De Montfort University, specialising in the computational arts, and an Honorary Patron of Phoenix.  He has published widely on computer-based art, creativity and human-computer interaction. His work is described in the book by Francesca Franco, Generative Systems Art: The Work of Ernest Edmonds (Routledge, 2017).  http://www.ernestedmonds.com

A Selection of Ernest Edmonds' Images
10 Images by Ernbest Edmonds are Included in the Exhibition

About Ernest Edmonds' Artworks

Ernest Edmonds’ prints, on show in the Quantum Computing Art exhibition, are stills taken from Quantum Tango in its first realisation, which had three interacting components: physically in SIGGRAPH, Vancouver, Gazelli Art House, London and in Padua, Italy. The second realisation has interactive components currently showing at Phoenix in Leicester and in the Gazelli Art House galleries in London and Baku,, Azerbaijan. There is also a trace of the earlier presence in Vancouver.

Quantum Tango (2025) has its origin in Edmonds’ early Communications Game networked pieces and the Cities Tango series. The first Communications Game was exhibited in 1971. It was a network through which people could interact with one another according to rules within the artwork, implemented with circuit boards containing logical circuits. This was before the arrival of the Internet. Much later, from 2007, internet technology was used in a series called Cities Tango that extended Edmonds’ Shaping Form interactive works that evolve over time, to works distributed geographically, connecting cities on different continents. In the Cities Tango works, people interact with their local interactive installation (node) that in turn, interacts with other nodes across the Internet.

Thus, Quantum Tango is an extension of the earlier Cities Tangos that, for example, linked Melbourne to Berlin, Belfast to Sydney and connected the 2021 Leicester Art/AI Festival to the British Pavilion in the Dubai Expo. Physically, in each city, there is one node. At each node, a computer is connected to a large display and a camera pointed at the area in front of the display. The display shows an ever-changing blend of colour bands and images from the other cities. What is seen depends both on the movement of people in front of the display and on what is happening in the other cities.

All the earlier works used logic to specify the relationships of the colours, images and shapes displayed. However, in Quantum Tango, quantum logic is used. The bits are replaced by qubits, which have uncertain values. Thus, for example, the vertical colour stripes of some of the Cities Tango works become more irregular shapes because the exact locations of the corners are set using quantum logic.

Jonathan has worked in Engineering for more than 20 years and has spent the past decade immersed in Quantum Engineering. His career has taken him from laboratories and universities around the world to collaborations with international teams from his base in Australia, where he has contributed to developing quantum hardware and integrating complex quantum systems.

Alongside his technical work, Jonathan discovered a passion for quantum-inspired art during his many late nights in the lab. He enjoys exploring innovative ways to visualise and create quantum imagery, and he looks forward to continuing this creative journey in the years ahead.

A Selection of Jonathan Knoblauch's Images
10 Images by Ernbest Jonathan Knoblach are Included in the Exhibition

About ErnJonathan Knoblauch's Artworks

Jonathan Knoblauch’s prints, featured in the Quantum Computing Art exhibition, explore quantum simulation and the hidden beauty within the interactions of subatomic particles. His work captures how these particles behave when harnessing different aspects of quantum mechanics.

The prints are created using Python and a range of quantum simulation methods. They depict imagery similar to what one might see when tuning quantum devices under ideal conditions that utilise spin qubits—the building blocks of quantum computing systems. The artworks reflect the movement of electrons as they are added to or removed from the system, with colour variations illustrating the resulting shifts in energy levels.

Some prints also incorporate simulated noise signatures to highlight the fragility of these systems. They reveal how easily the delicate conditions required for a reliable quantum computer can deteriorate. The hexagonal lines represent the boundaries of different charge states within the system; their angles and shapes are influenced by parameters such as the distance between quantum dots and the applied voltage ranges. This complexity is expressed in the prints through the presence of many smaller hexagonal structures.

Jonathan also investigates how artificial intelligence might be used to simulate and model quantum systems. By iterating over AI-generated Python simulation techniques, he demonstrates both the promise and the current limitations of AI in this field. One piece from this exploration is included in the exhibition, showing that while AI has a way to go in modelling such complex systems, it can still produce imagery with its own unique beauty.

This exhibition was organised by Sean Clark from the Computer Arts Archive in collaboration with Interact Digital Arts and the Computer Arts Society.