Picture Piece: Disturbed Black Hole

Ideas in art, design and music are being consumed at an ever-increasing rate. Popular culture now moves so quickly that ideas are superseded from month to month; it is becoming evident how little time things will last. People want as much as possible, as quickly as possible – this accelerates the process further.

You could say that our rush to oblivion is overwhelming, that we will not cope. But there is a bright side: there is no longer a tyranny of the fashionable. We are in a multi-choice culture. You may relate to this more than to that, but you cannot say this is more fashionable than that. All is drawn in. An accelerating blur of light towards the black hole of our entertainment culture is unravelling an entire galaxy.

This image is a computer simulation of the gravitational wave emitted by a disturbed black hole. The black hole has been distorted by a ring of gravitational energy, represented by the two peaks. As matter is drawn towards the black hole it begins to rotate, becoming extremely hot and emitting visible radiation. This optical jet is formed from material ‘boiling’ off near the magnetic poles of the black hole, travelling at up to a quarter the speed of light.