Haroon Mirza & Jack Jelfs launch The Wave Epoch

The album combines music, poetry, incantation, video footage, and homemade electronic instruments to imagine a future where the forgotten remnants of the Large Hadron Collider are rediscovered

In 2018, British artists Haroon Mirza and Jack Jelfs were awarded the Arts at CERN Collide Award, granting them a residency split between CERN and FACT Liverpool. During their time at the Laboratory, the duo experimented with salvaged electronics and video footage, capturing interviews with physicists and conducting video shoots at various locations inside CERN with several collaborators, including musician GAIKA and artist Elijah.

GAIKA at the discarded OPAL experiment at CERN in 2018. Courtesy the artists

Their album, The Wave Epoch, released by OUTPUTS, merges music, poetry, incantation, and homemade electronic instruments—some crafted from discarded scientific equipment from CERN. Blending these elements with archive and original video footage, the album envisions a distant future where the forgotten remnants of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are rediscovered. In this speculative scenario, a civilisation several thousand years from now encounters the vast circular structure and its cathedral-like underground spaces. The album ponders how such a society might interpret this complex machinery and its historical significance.

Taking this future-archaeological scenario as a starting point, The Wave Epoch questions the nature of truth and belief, matter and consciousness, ritual and practice. It reflects the artists’ ongoing interests in club culture, future archaeology, belief systems, and social rituals. The accompanying film, a sci-fi visual journey, further explores these ideas, examining how humans search for patterns and meaning amidst the constantly shifting realities of existence.

GAIKA during the filming of the Wave Epoch at CERN’s ATLAS Experiment (2018)

The album cover features an image of the OPAL experiment, taken at CERN in 2018. OPAL was one of the major experiments conducted at LEP (Large Electron-Positron Collider), a predecessor to the LHC. In addition to its digital release, The Wave Epoch is available as a limited edition physical artwork. This playable piece, crafted by Haroon Mirza from machined card and foil, is housed in a 12″ record sleeve.

Expanding beyond its album form, The Wave Epoch also became an immersive live performance, which was staged at the Brighton Festival, Lisson Gallery, and the Ministry of Sound for DRAF’s Evening of Performances.