The View from Nowhere, 2018

About the collaboration

“Driven by an interest in the material nature of our physical world and how we experience it through the lens of science and technology, Semiconductor go looking for the techniques that are developed at CERN which ask fundamental questions about nature, and the languages which ensue to make sense of it.

Through juxtaposing discussions around the application and processes of theoretical physics with filmed footage in CERN’s hi-tech workshops, Semiconductor explore the dichotomy that is revealed between the surprisingly creative pursuit of theoretically modelling our physical universe and the fixed/hard classical nature of producing instrumentation to test these notions. It reveals a sense of the scientific frameworks developed by man to explore matter beyond the limits of human experience, whilst raising questions about our place in the larger nature of reality.” Semiconductor

About the residency

“In autumn 2015, the English artist duo consisting of Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt started a two-month residency at CERN, the world’s largest particle physics research facility in Geneva. During their residency, Jarman and Gerhardt aim to create a digital artwork elaborating on the nature of the world and our perception of it, including consideration of how scientific instruments and particle physics discoveries influence our perception of nature.”

Read more about The View from nowhere at CERN: A Journey through the World of Science

About the title

Thomas Nagel’s book ‘the view from nowhere” asks how humans can escape their subjective perspective to a more objective on that is at the heart of science. As Nagel puts the question, ‘How to combine the perspective of a particular person inside the world with an objective view of that same world, the person and his viewpoint included? It is a problem that faces every creature with the impulse and the capacity to transcend its particular point of view and to conceive of the world as a whole.

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