The inspiration for the latest art exhibition at the Cité du Temps came from a scientific experiment the height of a six-floor building, built to the precision of the thickness of a human hair. “CMS – The Art of Science”, by Michael Hoch, running from 27 February to 10 April 2016, delivers a dynamic dialogue between art and science. A combination of photography, collage and installations, it pays tribute to the thousands of people who constructed the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva. In the equipment created to explore the secrets of the universe, Michael Hoch, and many visitors, see incredible beauty. He has captured this in the fascinating art displayed in this exhibition and a book of the same title. Fuelled by his belief that the huge experiment constructed for the benefit of mankind should be inclusive and accessible, a series of workshops and round table discussions will be offered to the general public and school groups to prove that this science is “not only for Mr Einstein, but for you and me!”.
“CMS – the Art of Science” features unique photographs of the detector in various stages of construction and maintenance, as well as portraits of many of the individuals responsible for this massive endeavour to find evidence for the Brout-Englert-Higgs mass generation mechanism. This was rewarded by a Nobel Prize in 2013 for the discovery of what is commonly known as the “God Particle”, or more scientifically the “Higgs boson”. Two main themes structure the exhibition’s content. The first is inspired by the symmetry and beauty of the detector, which mirrors that of the early universe through a visual interpretation of matter and anti-matter. The second and complementary series interleaves the remarkable scientific tool with nature, the exquisite subject of its research, provoking philosophical reflection and enquiry. From the black and white images of the experiment’s “creators” welcoming people at the entrance, to a life-size cut out art collage of the equipment and kaleidoscope-style pictures of daisies and poppies sprouting up between the engineering, these exhibits are set to cause a big bang in their own right. All visitors to the exhibition and interactive sessions will leave with the conviction that science is something that they can reach out and touch – visually and intellectually.
This programme at the Cité du Temps is part of Michael Hoch’s art@CMS project, an education and outreach initiative founded in 2012 for the CMS experiment at CERN. Its mission is to act as a springboard for engaging the public in general, and youth in particular, in the excitement of scientific research in High Energy Physics. Through school-based projects and art-science collaborations, art@CMS has been successful in fostering creative synergies between scientists, students, educators and artists from around the world. Exhibitions in Europe and the US have attracted over 100,000 visitors and hundreds of students have participated in the related art workshops.
Michael Hoch was born in Vienna, Austria, where he studied Applied Physics at the University of Technology, and Sports and Physics at the University of Vienna. In parallel he followed lectures at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts. During his studies and early work, Michael Hoch’s photography focused on human movement, architecture and the structural forms of nature. He later moved to Geneva to pursue his doctoral studies in Particle Physics at CERN. His science-art photos have been shown at exhibitions around Europe and in 2010 he produced the 3D film “Inside LHC” that was presented at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. In 2011 and 2012, two of his life-size images of the 20-metre CMS detector were installed at CERN. Since 2012 his artworks have been presented in group and solo exhibitions in many countries in Europe and the US.
“CMS – The Art of Science” by Michael Hoch will be presented at the Cité du Temps from 27 February to 10 April 2016. Opening hours are from 9am to 6pm and admission is free.
The Pont de la Machine is at the heart of Geneva and has been one of the city’s landmarks since the 1840s. It was originally built to supply water to new public fountains but through the ages has become a symbol of the city’s industrial development. Since 2005 the building has been in the hands of the Swatch Group and houses the Cité du Temps, a unique, interactive venue for permanent and guest exhibitions.
For further information:
Cité du Temps
Mélanie D’Anna
Pont de la Machine 1
1204 Geneva
Tel. +41 22 818 39 00
Fax +41 22 818 39 10
contact@citedutemps.com
www.citedutemps.com
Both the artist and a scientist will be present at the exhibition each Thursday from 2.30pm to 5.30pm.
Special guided tours, discussions and presentations for school or other groups on particle physics, science and art can be reserved on https://indico.cern.ch/event/508020/