Curved Space on a Flat Surface: The Iconography of Black Holes and Fieldwork at the Black Hole Initiative
Emilie Skulberg (Philosophy) – University of Amsterdam
Title: Curved Space on a Flat Surface: The Iconography of Black Holes and Fieldwork at the Black Hole Initiative
Abstract: In this presentation I focus on some of the results obtained from the study of an extensive collection containing visual representations of black holes and fieldwork at the Black Hole Initiative in 2017 and 2018. Approaching the history of black hole imaging through a focus on the framings of points of view from which black holes were imagined to be observed, I argue that three developments in the ways points of view were framed were particularly important to the depiction of black holes. In addition to tracing developments with representing spaces around black holes, I describe the role of spatial relations tied to image production within the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.
Bio: Emilie Skulberg (Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam and the Dutch Black Hole Consortium) is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on the history of visual representations of black holes. She recently completed her PhD at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science (University of Cambridge) on the topic of the iconography of black holes and imaging within the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.
