Embark on an exciting journey of scientific discovery with Collider, an award-winning exhibition which will land at ArtScience Museum starting today. Through an immersive experience with specially designed soundscape and video art, visitors will ‘travel’ to the recreated site of CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) buried underground in Geneva, and witness the spectacular collision among particle beams accelerating at the speed of light in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Coming from the renowned Science Museum in London, the exhibition aims to engage different audiences – from the scientifically curious to those who have no prior knowledge of particle physics – by recreating the experience of being in the heart of the LHC, the world’s most fascinating science experiment. Visitors will encounter real objects, as well as real physicists and engineers at the CERN office through video projection and audio interviews played at different spaces. They will also have the opportunity to re-live the exciting moment when the Higgs boson was discovered at the LHC, through a visual theatrical experience in the scene of a press conference announcement of the discovery in July, 2012.
Interactive art installation: Gift of Mass
Inspired by the discovery of the Higgs boson – the most important discovery made by the LHC – ArtScience Museum presents the Gift of Mass, an interactive art installation that brings alive the scientific concepts underpinning the Higgs boson field. This audio-visual installation enables visitors to personally experiment with how mass is acquired, when a particle interacts with the Higgs field. Visitors have the mind-blowing experience of seeing themselves dancing with particles, as the acquisition of their own mass is shown on large screens.
This interactive multi-screen installation is a special project conceived in 2012, a few months after the discovery of the Higgs boson, by Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) in collaboration with embrio.net collective and the artist Paolo Scoppola. Gift of Mass is a perfect representation of the interrelationship between art, science and technology, and presents an excellent opportunity for visitors to interact with the invisible matter around them.
“Collider is a landmark exhibition for ArtScience Museum. It transports visitors to the heart of the world’s greatest science experiment, the Large Hadron Collider. The exhibition draws on new technology, theatre design and a stunning immersive set to explore some of the most fundamental scientific issues of our time. At ArtScience Museum, we believe art can be a powerful transmitter of scientific ideas, and this is beautifully expressed in the installation, Gift of Mass, which powerfully articulates how the Higgs mechanism works. In this exhibition, art truly collides with science, and visiting it will be an unforgettable experience for audiences of all ages,” said Ms Honor Harger, Executive Director of ArtScience Museum.
Conversations: Particles Matter – An Exploration of Collaborative Practices
For the opening weekend on Saturday 14 November, visitors will also have the opportunity to join particle physicist and curator of Collider – Dr. Harry Cliff, as well as NUS Associate Professor Phil Chan Aik Hui for ArtScience Museum’s half-day conference, Particles Matter: An Exploration of Collaborative Practices. Participants will enjoy an exclusive live link-up to tour one of the particle detectors, Atlas, at CERN, followed by a live poetry reading session by local playwright and poet, Eleanor Wong. The creative geniuses behind Gift of Mass will also be present to share more about the inspiration behind the interactive installation.
ArtScience Late: Spooky Action (at a Distance) II
In conjunction with Collider, the monthly ArtScience Late programme presents ‘Spooky Action (at a Distance) II’ – an experimental dance performance inspired by the theory of quantum entanglement.
Commissioned by NUS Centre for Quantum Technologies and presented by Strangeweather Movement Group, this original off-kilter performance features improvisation and choreography which brings to life complex theories within quantum physics. Only performed for one evening at ArtScience Museum on 19 November, the free performance is bound to inspire and delight.
The Collision Space
Presented for a limited time until 24 January 2016, visitors can try their hands at a range of family-friendly programmes and activities, specially designed to illustrate and highlight Nobel Prize-awarded discoveries at CERN in ‘The Collision Space’.
Curated by ArtScience Museum, ‘The Collision Space’ is a hands-on and interactive area shared with The Nobel Prize: Ideas Changing the World exhibition. This educational space, designed with children in mind, highlights scientific principles common to both exhibitions. The space features a timeline presenting Nobel Laureates who have been awarded for scientific inventions or discoveries from CERN experiments, a LEGO station where children can learn how particles are constitutes, and a series of fun, hands-on activities that invite visitors of all ages to discover key inventions within physics.
The exhibition will run from 14 November 2015 to 14 February 2016.
Event Details
Name: Collider
Venue: Artscience Museum, B2
Date: 14 November 2015 – 14 February 2016
Opening Hours: 10AM – 7PM (last admission at 6PM)
For more information on Collider, please visit www.marinabaysands.com/ArtScienceMuseum
