The nBody problem has survived 300 years of mathematical onslaught, “kindling and witnessing the beginnings of calculus, of qualitative methods, of relativity, of chaos.” This says mathematician Florin Diacu.

Cosmic, local, and in an infinite-return homoclinic orbit, “the sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.” This says Samuel Beckett’s opening line from his novel Murphy. Acknowledging the nothing new, Beckett then proceeds to tell his new and unique story anyway. He affirms the notion of a reality that is built upon an infinite number of very similar, yet still mutually exclusive phenomena. Like the sunrise, the nBody problem is nothing new; it concerns the eternal dance of the celestial spheres.

And so, I focus my Tapestries in Space on grappling with the nBody problem. A medieval heretic, an enlightenment philosopher, a Nordic king, a Chinese sophomore, English and Chinese novelists and more than a few mathematicians have already thrown their hats in the ring. And every one of them has indeed solved the nBody problem. Here, I elbow my way in, firmly placing myself and my material based tapestry installation into the crowded circle of solvers of the nBody problem.

This project is about how an installation of tapestry in three-dimensional space might deliver its solution through material exploration.