As visitors enter the new CERN Community Support Centre (CCSC), they will be surrounded by the cosmic soundscape created by A Particular Score, a newly commissioned sculpture by AATB. Located on the Esplanade des Particules, in the area previously occupied by CERN’s Main Reception, the CCSC will offer comprehensive practical support to all members of the CERN community.

AATB, the artist group formed by Andrea Anner and Thibault Brevet, explores the idea of non-industrial robotics, experimenting with industrial automation processes and robotic arms. In 2023, AATB were in residence at CERN as the artists selected for Connect, the framework for collaboration between Arts at CERN and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Inspired by their residency, they redesigned their sonic sculpture A Particular Score, which will be on permanent display at the CCSC.

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that originate from stars in the Milky Way and beyond. Although trillions of cosmic rays strike the Earth every day, the atmosphere blocks most of them. The few that make it through create showers of secondary particles that reach the planet’s surface, resulting in an invisible flux that continuously bathes our surroundings.

A Particular Score transforms this cosmic stream into a real-time score for visitors to the CCSC. The sculpture detects a particle and responds by striking one of the twelve quartz crystal tubes, creating an unpredictable sequence of audible tones. The soundscape evolves unexpectedly and randomly with each impact, giving us a glimpse of a phenomenon that surrounds us but is normally imperceptible.

A Particular Score was originally commissioned by Bienal da Maia, Portugal, in 2019, and was reworked for the Cosmos at Grand Hornu exhibition in Belgium in 2021. The present version was inspired by their Arts at CERN residency in 2023 and was shown at Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland, as part of the Space is the Place exhibition held the same year.