In 2021, CERN and Pro Helvetia launched Connect, a collaboration framework that extends their joint efforts to support and promote the dialogue between artists and scientists within the Laboratory’s context.
Connect integrates science into contemporary culture by creating a global network of collaboration. It offers a dual residencies at CERN and partner scientific institutions, where two selected artists share both residencies. This distinctive opportunity allows artists to gain new perspectives and deepen their practices by working with scientists, engineers, and staff in diverse cultural environments. Supported by curatorial teams from Arts at CERN and its partner institutions, these residencies encourage artistic innovation, inspiring and shaping the creation of new works.
Scientific partners in the program include the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR) in Bengaluru, India, and several prestigious astronomical research facilities in Chile’s Atacama Desert, such as the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous partners have included the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). Each year, artists from Switzerland and the partner country are selected to participate in these dual residencies.
Connect India offers one artist from Switzerland and one artist from India 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 the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) focuses on theoretical sciences, encompassing fields like physics, mathematics, astronomy and computational biology.
The two selected artists are invited to a three-week residency at ICTS in Bengaluru, followed by a three-week stay at CERN in Geneva. They 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.
Connect Chile invited one artist from Chile and one artist from Switzerland to the world’s leading scientific research facilities dedicated to investigating the mysteries of the universe. CERN, in Geneva, studies the fundamental constituents of matter with the most complex particle accelerators and detectors. In Chile, European Southern Observatory (ESO)’s telescopes are used to observe a wide range of astronomical objects, and the ALMA observatory studies the coldest and most distant objects to understand our cosmic origins.
The two honorees will complete a dual residency, spending three weeks at CERN, Geneva, and three weeks at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The residency in Chile is organised and coordinated by the Centro Interactivo de los Conocimientos – MIM.
Connect invites artists and collectives from or based in Switzerland to become immersed in CERN’s community and engaging in close dialogue with scientists, engineers, and staff at CERN. The residency welcomes artists with a distinct interest in an interdisciplinary approach and a strong motivation for learning more about the modes of scientific thinking and fundamental science.
The Connect residency consists of a fully funded residency that supports an artist or artist collective to spend two months at CERN and one month remotely. During this time, artists are supported by a scientific partner and the curation and mentorship of the Arts at CERN curator and team. The residency encompasses a research phase at CERN, followed by a remote development period to refine and produce a new artwork.
One Swiss artist and an artist from South, West or East Africa were invited to complete the Connect South Africa dual residency, the inaugural edition of the collaboration framework.
The artists spent three weeks together at CERN, followed by five weeks at the array of optical and radio astronomy observatories across rural and urban South Africa, concentrated in the vast semidesert expanses of the Northern Cape. These include SARAO’s MeerKAT radio telescope near the town of Carnarvon, as the precursor to the South African component of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, as well as the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the largest of several telescopes operated by SAAO near the town of Sutherland.
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