The Art Newspaper

We know that the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson, announced by scientists at Switzerland's Cern (the European Council for Nuclear Research) yesterday, is not strictly art-related. But the news is of such importance that it would be a shame not to pass the achievement on and celebrate it. The discovery reveals how particles clustered together to form the fabric of the universe; in other words, the Higgs boson gives matter mass. Unearthing the so-called "God particle" should give artists plenty of food for thought. Cern, which operates the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is already engaging with artists though. Last year it initiated a three-month residency programme over three years called Collide@CERN, inviting artists to its laboratory near Geneva where they will be mentored by leading scientists. But in light of the Higgs boson phenomenon, putting the art into particle physics just got a lot more exciting.

Comments