Behind the scenes of HALO, a large-scale art installation conceived at CERN and inspired by ATLAS data will be exhibited during Art Basel

A large-scale immersive art installation entitled HALO is the artistic interpretation of the Large Hadron Collider’s ATLAS experiment and celebrates the links between art, science and technology. Inspired by raw data generated by ATLAS, the artwork has been conceived and executed by CERN’s former artists-in-residence, the “Semiconductor” duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, in collaboration with Mónica Bello, curator and head of Arts at CERN. The artwork is part of the 4th Audemars Piguet Art Commission. HALO is a cylindrical structure, measuring ten metres in diameter and surrounded by 4-metre-long vertical piano wires. On the inside, an enormous 360-degree screen creates an immersive visual experience. Using kaleidoscopic images of slowed-down particle collisions, which trigger piano wires to create sound, the experience takes the visitors into the realm of subatomic matter through the multiple patterns generated in the space. HALO is conceived as an experiential reworking of the ATLAS experiment. Its data sets and its complex assemblage is suggestive of the technology associated with scientific endeavour.