‘Instruments of Vision’, the exhibition to commemorate IGFAE’s 25th anniversary to remain open in Santiago de Compostela until Saturday, 21st September

‘Instruments of Vision’, by the artist Armin Linke, commemorates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the 25^th anniversary of IGFAE, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence.  

The project, a collaboration between the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE by its Galician initials) and Arts at CERN, will remain open in Santiago de Compostela until Saturday, September 21. The exhibition, which to date has attracted more than 30,000 visitors, is open to the public at the University Church from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., from Tuesday to Saturday.

‘Instruments of Vision’ is a compilation of more than 20 years’ work by photographer and film maker Armin Linke (Milan, 1966), based on his observations of research conducted in major experimental infrastructures such as CERN, the Laboratori Nazionali di Gran Sasso (L’Aquila, Italy), and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Innsbruck, Austria.

On this occasion Armin Linke has created a series of works highlighting the scientific work of IGFAE researchers, who are involved in some of the top international collaborations in particle physics, such as the LHCb experiment at CERN. The project is curated by Mónica Bello, director of Arts at CERN, the scientific organisation’s art programme.  

New outreach activities

As a result of the exhibition’s extended opening, the University Church will host additional outreach activities based on ‘Instruments of Vision’. These include further guided tours on Tuesday, 27^th August and 18^th September, between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. The tours, which are free of charge, can be booked on the exhibition website at instrumentosdevision.igfae.usc.es. This activity is sponsored by Horta Coslada.

Furthermore, and coinciding with the start of the academic year, schools in the Santiago de Compostela area will have the opportunity to explore, as part of the exhibition, some of the ‘instruments of vision’ used by IGFAE researchers to demonstrate the fundamental components of matter. These include devices such as the cloud chamber and the portable MiniPix detector, developed by CERN.

Finally, on Friday, 20^th September, the University Church will host a debate on the influence of the contribution by particle physics to contemporary societal narratives. Speakers at the event will include writer and literary critic Mario Regueira, psychiatrist Iria Veiga, and IGFAE’s director, Carlos Salgado. This activity is organized in collaboration with the Galician Critics Association.