In partnership with CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Geneva, the Taichung-based National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts will host a special exhibition on the poetic qualities of physics from March 14 through May 31. The nine featured international artists are graduates of an arts-and-science residency offered by one of the world's largest and most respect centers for scientific research.
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 which dictate the ways in which our world works, remains ever elusive. Thanks to new technological devices and scientific breakthroughs from the last hundred years, we are now more equipped than ever to understand the nature of this hidden realm. Nowhere is this more evident than within physics: the study of the basic properties, materials, and laws which make up the universe.
But nature as described by modern physics often defies common sense: basic principles seem to contradict one another, language is utilized in unfamiliar ways, and seemingly complex theories are tested and proven possible. In these scenarios, both artists and scientists reveal some of the challenges required to uncover, understand, and give back to society such knowledge in the form of cultural artefacts.
CERN, which is also referred to the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, is home to the one-and-only Large Hadron Collider and a driver of novel collaborative models between science and the arts. For example, its Arts@CERN initiative has partnered with FACT, or the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool, to offer a two-month residency at the Geneva laboratory known as the Collide International.
This flagship program invites artists to be part of the unique fundamental science community and establish significant dialogues with the physicists, engineers, and staff members of CERN. The artworks in this Taichung exhibition stem from the outcomes of these dialogues, created by nine recipient artists exploring the complex language of physics, the human experiments created to understand nature, and the synergies of the CERN community.
Encompassing a wide range of artistic practices, "Broken Symmetries" will present works from the global "Collide International" residency program that delve into narratives that can be traced to the fundamental and philosophical foundations of science.
Curators
Mónica Bello and José-Carlos Mariátegui
Participating Artists
Diann Bauer
HRM199
Julieta Aranda
Juan Cortés
Lea Porsager
Semiconductor
Suzanne Treister
Yu-Chen Wang
Yunchul Kim
‘Broken Symmetries: Art x Physics’
Date: March 14 – May 31, 2020
Venue: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Address: No. 2 Wuchuan W. Rd. Section 1, Taichung City, Taiwan (ROC)
Site: http://english.ntmofa.gov.tw
The exhibition was co-produced by ScANNER (the Science and Art Network for New Exhibitions and Research), composed of CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Geneva); FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool); CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona); Le Lieu Unique Nantes; and iMAL (interactive Media Arts Laboratory, Brussels).
ScANNER was initiated through the Collide International Residency Award 2016-2018, a partnership programme between CERN and FACT.
The bilingual program is also available for download here.