What If Nothing is as Solid as it Appears?

By Alan Briskin

This shifting visibility is not a trick of the eye; it’s a revelation of physics.

Julian Voss-Andreae, both physicist and sculptor, draws on quantum principles that challenge our ordinary sense of solidity. At the quantum level, particles are not fixed objects but wave-like probabilities, coalescing into form through relationship and observation. Likewise, Isabelle exists in a dynamic tension between presence and absence. When viewed from the rear, she seems almost to disappear—her body dissolving into thin, parallel slices of steel. Move a few steps to the side, and she re-emerges, radiant and whole.

Seen through the lens of Mary’s and my book, Space Is Not Empty, Voss-Andreae’s  sculpture becomes a meditation on field awareness. 

Each steel plane is like a moment of perception; together they create coherence. Step aside and the coherence collapses—form returns to flux. From one angle, the human figure is clearly visible. From another, it nearly disappears. Nothing changes - except where you stand.

In this way, Isabelle invites us to sense the invisible architecture of connection and movement that holds everything in flux. She reminds us that space itself is alive—with energy, information, and relationship—and that what we call “empty” is simply the field waiting to be seen.

We hope our book, Space Is Not Empty: How Hidden Fields Are Shaping Your Life and Our World, helps you change where you stand—physically, perceptually, and relationally—so you can notice absence as well as presence, and contribute to social fields that are less toxic and more life-giving.

What if clarity isn’t about answers, but about position and perspective?

What changes when you intentionally shift your position to one of courage and caring?