Nicole L’Huillier and Alan Bogana have just spent three weeks at CERN in the framework of Simetría, an artist residency split between CERN and the astronomical observatories in Chile. At the start of July, the two artists each presented their first creation inspired by their stay in the world of physics.

Nicole L’Huillier has brought forgotten sounds back to life: the Chilean artist has devised a sound sculpture that amplifies and broadcasts the sounds that surround us but that we do not hear. Housing six colourful speakers, her sculpture was designed to be a “parasite” in the environment where it is installed. 

In early July, the artist placed her installation in the ALICE experiment, and then on the lawn outside Restaurant 1. Her intention is to “connect observers with their quark-gluon plasma origins, shake up their material existence and let this parasitic medium guide them through a concert of a specific moment in space and time.”

Alan Bogana also exhibited his work in Restaurant 1, on 11 July: colourful holograms that caught the eye of many visitors one evening.

This Genevan artist is particularly interested in the behaviour of light and its interactions with matter. He produces art in many different media and is also interested in research into dark matter, computer-produced visual simulations and technological architecture.

As the first winners of Simetría, Nicole L’Huillier and Alan Bogana will now visit the observatories in Chile to continue their artistic quest through the scientific universe.