- Venue
- FACT (Liverpool, UK); CCCB (Barcelona, Spain); iMAL (Brussels, Belgium); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (Taiwan); Le Lieu Unique (Nantes, France); Kumu (Tallinn, Estonia)
The touring exhibition Quantum/Broken Symmetries brought together new art commissions by CERN residents to museums worldwide
Our senses are only capable of accessing a tiny part of the world we live in. The underlying nature of the universe, including unthinkably small actions that dictate the ways in which our world works, remains elusive. Thanks to new technological devices and scientific breakthroughs in physics, we are now more able than ever to understand the nature of this hidden realm.
But nature as described by modern physics often defies common sense: basic principles seem to contradict one another, language is utilised in unfamiliar ways, and seemingly complex theories are tested and proven possible. In recent years, CERN has fostered novel models of collaboration between the arts and science within the context of the lab. Artists are invited to spend time in the lab establishing significant dialogues with physicists, engineers and the staff of the laboratory, and they become members of the unique fundamental science community.
Quantum/Broken Symmetries began with Collide, Arts at CERN’s flagship residency programme, in collaboration with FACT Liverpool between 2016-2018. During this period, a group of artists were invited to do residencies at CERN to advance their artistic practice by establishing a dialogue with engineers and particle physicists.
The project brings together works produced by this exchange. The artists explored the complex language of physics and some of the experiments of particle physics designed in the lab to understand nature and matter. It also expresses the synergies of the artists within CERN’s extraordinary creative community of scientists, engineers, and staff. Encompassing a wide range of artistic practices, the works presented delve into narratives that can be traced to the fundamental and philosophical foundations of science.
