Announcing the artists selected for the Connect India residency

Indian artist Shailesh BR and Swiss artist Lou Masduraud are the two selected artists for the Connect India dual residency

Arts at CERN, in collaboration with the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, announced that Swiss artist Lou Masduraud and Indian artist Shailesh BR have been selected for the Connect India dual residency

Connect is an art residency programme launched by Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia in 2021, which serves as a platform to foster experimentation in art and science by bringing artists into contact with fundamental science and cutting-edge research at CERN and other international scientific organisations.

The two awardees, Lou Masduraud and Shailesh BR, selected by a board of cultural experts, will be invited to a three-week residency at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bengaluru, followed by a three-week stay at CERN in Geneva. They will receive support from the Arts at CERN and ICTS curatorial teams to explore new forms of artistic expression and transform these explorations into art productions.

Page Turner, an art installation by Shailesh BR, consisting of a series of books and a microphone. — Shailesh BR, Page Turner, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Vadehra Art Gallery

Shailesh BR is a visual artist based in Delhi NCR, India. His practice explores fundamental aspects of our world by examining existing knowledge, systems, traditions and philosophical thoughts. Utilising a diverse visual vocabulary, he incorporates methods from science and technology into his artistic interventions, creating drawings, object modifications and machines.

Lou Masduraud lives and works in Geneva. Through sculpture and installation, Masduraud proposes alternative narratives to dominant realities. Her body of work explores the intricate network of human activities through formal and material investigations of everyday elements such as fountains, basement windows and pipes, in both public and private spaces.

Lou Masduraud, Self portrait as a fountain of you (identity crisis), 2024, Swiss Art Award, Basel. Photo: Gina Folly

Connect India offers these artists a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge fundamental scientific research in both Geneva and Bengaluru. At CERN, physicists and engineers design and use a wide array of experiments in particle physics, while ICTS focuses on theoretical sciences, encompassing fields like physics, mathematics, astronomy and computational biology.

Connect India marks the second collaboration with ICTS, following successful dual residencies at scientific organisations in Chile and South Africa. Since its launch in 2021, the Connect collaboration between Pro Helvetia and Arts at CERN has hosted seven editions and established itself as a key platform for exchange between communities of artists and scientists around the world.