Geneva, 26 June 2013. The second winner of Prix Ars Electronica Collide @ CERN¹, American sound sculptor, Bill Fontana², begins his arts residency at CERN³ on 4 July 2013. Matching a great artist with a great scientist, Bill Fontana will start working with theorist Subodh Patil, his science inspiration partner during his time at CERN. Fontana will explore the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, along with other aspects of the CERN site in his project entitled ‘Acoustic Time Travel’. A presentation of the artist’s work and that of his inspiration partner, as well as insight into their future collaboration, will be revealed at CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation on 4 July. Doors open at 6:30pm.

“The sounds of the Large Hadron Collider and its technology will best be captured and sculpted by one of the world’s leading sound artists,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “Bill Fontana creates sound pieces out of some of the most iconic buildings and structures in the world, and it is now the turn of the LHC.”

Bill Fontana, whose mantra is “all sound is music” is one of the world’s most renowned sound sculptors. He studied with composer John Cage and since the early 70s, Fontana has used sound as a sculptural medium to interact with our perceptions of visual and architectural spaces.

He has transformed some of the world’s most iconic buildings and locations into sound art, including the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the tower housing Big Ben in London. His work has been exhibited widely internationally, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, and at the Venice Biennale.

CERN Director General Rolf Heuer will open the public event on 4 July, joined by Ariane Koek, creator of the Collide @ CERN programme, and Horst Hörtner, Director of Futurelab at Ars Electronica⁴ in Linz. Bill Fontana and Subodh Patil will make individual presentations of their work and discuss their forthcoming creative collisions at CERN. There will be discussion afterwards, opportunities for questions from the audience, as well as a chance to meet the artist and scientist.

Journalists interested in attending should register with the CERN Press Office by sending a request to press.office@cern.ch.

Doors open at 18:30 with presentations starting at 19:00.

Anyone interested in attending should reserve their free places by contacting collide.events@cern.ch.

For those who can not attend personally, the event can be followed live via Webcast here.

Contact:

Ariane Koek, ariane.koek@cern.ch
Cultural specialist, CERN

Julian Calo, julian.calo@cern.ch
Communications Assistant Arts @ CERN

Further information:

• Collide@CERN website
• Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN

1. The Prix Ars Electronica Collide @ CERN is the digital arts strand of the 3-year Collide @ CERN artists residency programme initiated by CERN in 2011, under CERN’s new cultural policy, Great Arts for Great Science. The residency is at CERN for two months and Ars Electronica for one month. The work emerging from the residency will be showcased at the Ars Electronica Festival 2014. Ars Electronica, Futurelab provides €10,000 prize money. The residency is fully funded thanks to Exclusive Friends of Collide @ CERN who are private donors and UNIQA Assurances SA Switzerland who is the exclusive sponsor of all artists' insurances for the Collide @ CERN programme.
2. Bill Fontana (born USA 1947) is an American composer and artist who developed an international reputation for his pioneering experiments in sound. Since the early 70’s, Fontana has used sound as a sculptural medium to interact with and transform our perceptions of visual and architectural spaces. He has realized sound sculptures and radio projects for museums and broadcast organizations around the world. He has created works around some of the world’s most iconic buildings and locations including the Arc de Triomphe, the Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco and Big Ben, London. His work has been exhibited at many of the world’s leading museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art History and Natural History Museums in Vienna, both Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London, and featured at the 48th Venice Biennale.
3. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel and Serbia are associate members in the pre-stage to membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have observer status.
4. Incorporated in 1995, Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is in charge of planning and producing the Ars Electronica Festival and the Prix Ars Electronica, and responsible for the operation of the Ars Electronica Center and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Funding is provided by the City of Linz, the Province of Upper Austria and the Republic of Austria.