Quantum: Living Archive

Quantum takes a closer look at the reality of our universe, at the smallest possible level, and questions how we understand the world around us. Taking over all of FACT’s gallery spaces, ten new works were presented as Broken Symmetries, emerging from the Collide International Award: a three-year partnership between Arts at CERN  - the arts programme of the world’s largest particle physics lab - and FACT. The purpose of this award is to bring artists and scientists together to develop novel forms of collaboration between arts and science. In doing so, previously unseen work which happens in the context of the lab is unveiled and the discussions which happen there (which have a much wider cultural and social impact) are pushed out into the world.

Due to the complex nature of the works, and the experiments which many of them reference, an archive is being developed to reveal some of these often hidden, or mystifying processes. This archive will grow and evolve as the show continues, shining light on the work undertaken by both artists and scientists and considering some of the wider questions within which these projects exist - so please check the FACT website for more information. As a preview of what will become a much larger resource, we have concentrated on how the unique production of both the artworks and the exhibition can be understood by focusing on three main areas: the gaining and dissemination of KNOWLEDGE; the PROCESSES by which this knowledge is constructed and shared, and the OUTCOMES which follow. This is one of the myriad ways in which we can start to take a look behind the artworks, and the experiments and ideas which inspired them.