The Big Ben Theory

1982

mixed technique 180x130 cm

Dedicated to Edwin Hubble

Phonetically speaking, there is no great difference between Big Ben and Big Bang.

The distance between them becomes shorter if Big Ben lifts off into the sky like a rocket, leaving the Houses of Parliament behind.

The Big Bang is the theory of the ‘beginning’ of the Universe: the theory that supports the birth of time.

The work is dedicated to Hubble, who proved that the Universe is expanding, and gave his name to the ‘Hubble constant’, the rate at which this expansion occurs.

This continuous expansion ties in with the forward motion of time (time’s arrow). Though time, as we understand it, is ultimately a human construct. ‘Time only exists to prevent everything happening at once,’ said Einstein. Artists, scientists, and spiritualists alike tend to resist such a notion: ‘It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,’ wrote Lewis Carroll. Hence here we see time being shattered.