Ten artworks exploring CERN science on tour

A travelling art exhibition entitled ‘Quantum/Broken Symmetries’* will bring the fruit of CERN’s art and science residencies to four new museums worldwide in 2020: iMAL in Brussels, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung, Le lieu unique in Nantes and Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn.

Particle physics and the aesthetic complexity of accelerators together create endless inspiration for artists seeking to imagine scientific objects with artistic expression. Arts at CERN is the official arts programme of CERN and the leading worldwide art and science programme fostering the dialogue between art and physics. Between 2016 and 2018, ten international artists completed their residencies alongside physicists, engineers and IT experts at CERN, as part of the Collide International Award, a partnership programme between Arts at CERN and FACT (Liverpool, UK). During these residencies, artists were able to experience the way the big questions about our universe are pursued by fundamental research.

‘Broken Symmetries/ Quantum’ gathers the outcome of these exchanges under the curation of Mónica Bello, curator and head of Arts at CERN, and Peruvian researcher and curator José Carlos Mariátegui. Adapted to several different museums, the travelling exhibition explores the influence of physics in culture and creativity across disciplines. In 2018 and 2019, it travelled to Liverpool and Barcelona.

“We are thrilled to see that after two successful exhibitions seen by over 16 000 visitors at FACT Liverpool and by over 80 000 visitors at CCCB in Barcelona, these artworks can travel further and allow CERN-inspired art to touch even more people with the wonder of science,” says Charlotte Lindberg Warakaulle, CERN’s Director for International Relations.

This year, the exhibition will open in Brussels on 5 March and travel to Taichung, Taiwan on 14 March. Later, in the summer, on 25 June, ‘Broken Symmetries/Quantum’ will be shown in Nantes, France, before travelling again on 30 October to Tallinn, Estonia.

The exhibition is co-produced by ScANNER (the Science and Art Network for New Exhibitions and Research), a consortium created by CERN, Geneva; FACT, Liverpool; CCCB, Barcelona; iMAL, Brussels and Le Lieu Unique, Nantes, and features ten international artists: Julieta Aranda (Mexico), Diann Bauer (USA), James Bridle (UK), Juan Cortés (Colombia), hrm199 (UK), Yunchul Kim (South Korea), Lea Porsager (Denmark), Suzanne Treister (UK), Semiconductor (UK) and Yu-Chen Wang (Taiwan).

Media representatives are invited to a press tour of ‘Quantum: in search of the invisible’ at 11 a.m. on 5 March at iMAL, Quai des Charbonnages, 30, 1080 Molenbeek, Belgium.

*The exhibition title varies for each city: ‘Broken Symmetries’ for Liverpool and Tallinn, ‘Quàntica’ for Barcelona, ‘Quantum: in search of the invisible’ for Brussels and ‘Broken Symmetries, Art x Physics’ for Taichung.