The exhibition Instruments of Vision comprises photographs and videos taken by Armin Linke during visits to experimental facilities, such as CERN or the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (L'Aquila, Italy), or the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (Vienna, Austria), since 2000.

For this occasion, Armin Linke has produced images that portray some of the work pursued by staff from the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE) at CERN. The photographs show how the scientific community has generated very complex instruments that allow us to observe and understand how the most fundamental elements of matter work. These photographs are enriched by the unique location of the exhibition, which is on display at Igrexa da Universidade, a baroque church at the heart of the old town.

In the exhibition, Linke invites visitors to witness spaces of research, where various kinds of instruments or components – such as parts of particle detectors, data processors archival images – can be found. His work captures the dynamic nature of laboratories, highlighting often overlooked elements and scenes in which physicists become intertwined with the precise instruments that underpin scientific inquiry. These activities are depicted not merely as isolated scientific endeavours but as integral components of a broader social and cultural composition, reflecting the interconnectedness of science, society and technology.

CERN science and history are explored in three interviews with key voices in the community: Maria Fidecaro, an experimental physicist and one of the first female scientists at CERN, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, former Director-General of CERN, and Peter Jenni, one of the founding fathers of ATLAS and a former spokesperson of the experiment.The three physicists shared with the artist their views on the development of detector and imaging technologies at CERN and the role these technologies play in advancing particle physics. 

“Breakthroughs in physics over the past decades, guided by complex instrumentation and sophisticated experiments, have transformed our understanding of fundamental concepts such as matter, space and time. As artists engage with science, our understanding deepens and becomes more diverse, inviting everyone to participate in an intellectual and creative exchange that takes place across disciplines”, writes Mónica Bello, Head of Arts at CERN and curator of the exhibition.

Instruments of Vision opens on 21 June and runs until 28 August 2024. The exhibition commemorates the 25th anniversary of IGFAE and the 70th anniversary of CERN. On this occasion, IGFAE and Arts at CERN join forces to promote new models of dialogue between artists and scientists at the laboratories.