ex nihilo nihil fit is a Latin phrase meaning, “nothing comes from nothing”. Many human cultures have a creation myth about how the universe was created ex nihilo, ‘out of nothing’, now many physicists also believe that the universe exploded out of nothingness during the Big Bang. How can nothing turn into something?

ex nihilo nihil fit, 2013 is a 3.25 minute single-screen video projection on loop, accompanied by a spoken excerpt from De Rerum Natura by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius, about how matter is required to make matter and that objects cannot spring forth without reasonable cause.

This work was commissioned by Migrating Arts Academies and Allenheads Contemporary Arts for ‘95%’, an international artist residency programme considering the 95% of the universe – comprised of 27% dark matter and 68% dark energy – which remains mysterious even to physicists.