Artistic residencies – Arts at CERN

The residency programmes form the core of Arts at CERN’s initiatives, enabling the interaction between artists and scientists within CERN’s unique context.

The residencies are designed for artists who are deeply interested in art, science, and technology and want to immerse themselves in the Laboratory’s vibrant environment and engage with the diverse scientific community. Artists from various disciplines are welcome, including visual arts, interactive media, sound art, and design.

Since the first art residency at CERN in 2012, several residency programs have been established in collaboration with local and international scientific, cultural, and governmental institutions. Over time, these programs have evolved based on the experiences and the unique context of CERN. By 2024, more than 250 artists have taken part in residencies, benefiting from the vibrant community of over 17,000 scientists, engineers, and staff at CERN.

Through direct engagement with fundamental science, artists enrich and inform their practice by exploring new questions about science’s methods, tools, and definitions of nature. Additionally, the unique environment at CERN allows artists to see their work through the lens of others. perspectives, informed by the insights of others.

CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Most artists will never have experienced a place like it before. Upon entering the Laboratory, it quickly becomes clear that grasping the full scope of the experiments—their scale, function, and the complex theoretical models that describe our world in mathematical terms—will not be straightforward.

During their residency, artists immerse themselves in CERN’s cutting-edge research, gaining first-hand understanding of experimental sites. The Arts at CERN team curates each residency to align with the artist’s practice and project, coordinating visits to facilities and meetings with scientists. These encounters provide a comprehensive view of CERN’s work, specific insights relevant to the artist’s research, and opportunities for broader dialogue about their respective practices. The dynamics of each residency are tailored to the individual artist, fostering engagement with scientific theories and experiments that may inspire new artistic inquiries and encouraging deeper dialogue or collaboration with CERN’s scientists, engineers, and staff.

The residencies are fully funded and include a production grant to support the development of new work after the residency period. During their stay at CERN, artists are accommodated in one of the CERN hostels, which also serve the broader research community. Accommodation at other locations is provided by our partner scientific and cultural institutions.

The residency programmes run through open calls for applications or by nomination. Each year, various open calls for applications are announced on Arts at CERN’s website and social media channels. Interested artists are invited to submit a project proposal that outlines their planned period of artistic research at CERN and an art production proposal to be developed after the residency. A jury of scientific and cultural experts reviews the applications, and the selected artists are invited to participate in a fully funded residency.