The ATLAS particle detector, one of seven at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), records more than 40 million data points every second, answering and spawning numerous inquiries into the mysteries of the universe. Now that information has found an unconventional medium for display: in a new work of installation art.

The artist duo of Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, who call themselves Semiconductor, visited CERN in 2015 to find artistic inspiration in the facility’s instruments and data, including archival particle images like this one. Image courtesy of Semiconductor.

ATLAS researchers agreed to share their data with a visual-arts duo who call themselves Semiconductor: Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt of Brighton in the United Kingdom. The duo visited CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, in 2015 as part of the Arts@CERN program. CERN hosts scientists—and the occasional artist—from around the world seeking to understand the nature of particles that make up matter. CERN’s LHC, sitting 80 meters below the surface of Switzerland and France, sends protons whizzing through accelerators to detect new particles emitted when the beams smash together.

CERN formalized its commitment to the arts in 2011, when it adopted a policy that encourages partnerships with art institutes and support for artists. Arts@CERN has a budget of about US$200,000, from both the laboratory and outside foundations. Since then, the laboratory has invited artists for residencies that allow for various kinds of artist–scientist interactions. Visiting artists have produced projects ranging from films and “sound sculptures” to large-scale installations and contemporary dance choreography. Some even use data in their pieces, as in the case of Semiconductor.

Accelerated Understanding For the artists, the Arts@CERN program is a chance to see the scientific approach in an awe-inspiring environment. “You’re dealing with questions about the birth of the universe, the nature of the universe, the nature of space,” says Bill Fontana, a San Francisco-based artist who was a CERN resident in 2013. “It’s of tremendous value to the individual artist … it is just a very sort of mind-expanding situation to be in.” At the same time, the interaction is enriching for the scientists, as they witness other perspectives on their work. “We’re doing something really unique here, and it’s easy to lose sight of that when you’re counting cables,” says Neal Hartman, an engineer from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California who works on the ATLAS detector. Hartman recalls how artist-in-residence and filmmaker Jan Peters, while documenting work on the ATLAS detector with an unindoctrinated eye, questioned design choices made by the engineers and technicians. That fresh perspective prodded the engineers to reassess their work and consider “elements like symmetry, simplicity, and elegance,” he says. Residencies by well-known artists are an important part of public outreach, adds Hartman. “Having them embrace science … that shows people this isn’t just something esoteric done by crazy guys with white hair,” Hartman says. “It’s something that has an impact on their lives.”

Movies of the Micro-Cosmos Residencies have certainly had an impact on Semiconductor. Their CERN stint marked their fourth scientific residency over the last 20 years; they’ve also spent time at the Smithsonian Institution, in the Galapagos Islands, and at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. From the start of their collaboration, Jarman and Gerhardt have been keen to use science and technology to explore, with an artist’s eye, the parts of the material world they can’t see, hear, or touch. From their Berkeley residency, Jarman and Gerhardt created a film called Magnetic Movie, in which they animated the magnetic fields they imagined around various apparatus they filmed. In another project, the two mined the NASA project STEREO, which studies solar storms via satellite. Jarman and Gerhardt turned raw, unprocessed data from STEREO into an eerily beautiful, yet static-punctuated, film called Black Rain. The artists made no attempt to precisely depict the scientific concepts involved in magnetic fields or solar storms. Rather, Jarman and Gerhardt used the stereo images and imagined fields to reveal and explore phenomena outside of everyday human perception. Nonetheless, the work contributes to science outreach; clips from Black Rain appeared in a BBC program about the solar system. Semiconductor’s work has been well received on the art circuit as well; the “We're doing something really unique here, and it's easy to lose sight of that when you're counting cables.” —Neal Hartman duo has exhibited at institutions such as the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. At CERN, Jarman and Gerhardt teamed up with theoretical physicist Luis Alvarez-Gaume as their “scientific partner,” a sort of guide to the laboratory and its science. The three met weekly for what Alvarez-Gaume jokingly called “therapy sessions,” talking about physics and the laboratory. Alvarez-Gaume, whose daughter is also an artist, found a kinship with Semiconductor. Artists and scientists share similar feelings of passion, frustration, and insecurity, he says. Jarman and Gerhardt interviewed other theorists and visited multiple laboratories, including the ATLAS detector and the Large Magnet Facility, as well as the CERN archives, where they pored over old notebooks. “We didn’t stop the whole time we were there,” says Jarman. “We wanted to just find out as much as we could.” As in previous residencies, their goal was to familiarize themselves with the concepts and vocabulary, but not necessarily attain a perfect understanding of the science. Indeed, Alvarez-Gaume warned the artists that would be impossible. “If you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t,” he told the pair, “because nobody really does.” Jarman and Gerhardt are starting to produce their CERN-inspired artwork, an installation piece. The artists plan to incorporate interviews and photos from their residency, animations, and ATLAS raw data, and will probably use the work to explore the nature of quantum physics and reality, Jarman says. The work will premiere in 2018.