CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research - Press Office

Signatures of the Invisible comes to the home of its inspiration

"Signatures of the Invisible", an exhibition that is the result of a close collaboration between modern contemporary artists and CERN*'s particle physicists opens at the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva on 7 February 2002.

This exhibition, a joint project by the London Institute, the world's largest college of art and design, and CERN, the world's leading particle physics laboratory, opened at London's Atlantis gallery last March to critical acclaim. Now it is coming home to the source of its inspiration. During 1999 and 2000, eleven leading European visual artists (see notes to the editor) worked closely with scientists from CERN and made original pieces of art that respond to, rather than illustrate, the preoccupations of particle physics.

Signatures of the Invisible is a groundbreaking initiative. For the first time, researchers at the leading edge of current work in two apparently different, unrelated fields - contemporary art and high energy physics - have worked together. These two different centres of learning and excellence had this opportunity to learn from each other and spark off new ideas and creativity.

After several visits to the Laboratory and its experiments, the artists held lengthy discussions with physicists and used the full potential of CERN's workshop. Their projects range from engravings based on particle collisions, installations and metal sculptures made in collaboration with CERN workshop technicians to computer art, print making, and video art. See the website for full details.

The exhibition at the Centre d'Art Contemporain in downtown Geneva will show that both arts and sciences are researching and experimenting - using different tools, certainly, but united by curiosity and passion. Our understanding of nature has changed incredibly over the past century. Although modern theories of physics like relativity and quantum mechanics are no longer intuitive, they are the foundations of how nature works. "The basis of this project is to find out whether artists can respond to nature as it has now been redefined by scientists," commented one of the artists.

After Geneva, the exhibition will be travelling to Lisbon and contacts with New York, Paris and Japan have been undertaken.

NOTES FOR THE EDITOR

Signatures of the Invisible (from 7 February – 12 May 2002, Tues-Sun :11am to 6 pm) Opening at 6pm on 7 February!

Centre d'art Contemporain
10, rue des Vieux-Grenadiers
1205 Genève
Switzerland
Site : www.centre.ch
For more info : contact Noelle Corboz on +41 22 /329 1842 or Email : cacge@worldcom.ch

Participating Artists

• Roger Ackling – (UK) Visual Artist
  
• Jerome Basserode – (France) Sculptor and Installation Artist
  
• Sylvie Blocher – (France) Multimedia Artist
  
• Richard Deacon – (UK) Sculptor and Turner Prize winner in 1987
  
• Bartolomeu Dos Santos - (Portugal) Print Maker
• Patrick Hughes – (UK) Painter
• Ken McMullen – (UK) British Filmmaker and artist
• Tim O'Riley – (UK) Visual Artist
• Paola Pivi – (Italy) Sculptor and Installation Artist
• Monica Sand – (Sweden) Sculptor and Installation Artist
• John Berger – (UK living in France) Writer, Poet and Art critic

For more info on the artists contact :
Michael Benson, Project Manager
65 Davies Street, London W1Y 2DA
England
Tel. 0044 (0) 20 7514 8087
Mobile : +44 7973 553939
Email : m.benson@linst.ac.uk
or Grace Adam, Artists Liaison
Tel. +44 20 7514 6218 Email : g.adam@linst.ac.uk

The official Signatures of the Invisible website

Diary of Exhibition Dates

March - May 2001

Opening in Atlantis Gallery, London

June 2001

Tshinghua University, Beijing, China

September 2001

Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome

February 7 - May 12, 2002

Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva

November 2002 - February 2003

Gulbenkian Gallery, Lisbon

April - June 2003

Palais de Tokyo, France (tbc)

November 2003 - Febuary 2004

PS1, New York (tbc) / Japan (tbc)

* CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.   Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and Unesco have observer status.