The Sketchbook and the Collider

“Reality is not what it seems: Drawing links between fine art and particle physics” was the title of the art–science exhibit set up by the Laboratoire d’Annecy de Physique des Particules (LAPP) on the occasion of the 2022 Fête de la Science. The installation was part of an ongoing collaboration between UK fine artist Ian Andrews and ATLAS physicist Kostas Nikolopoulos called “The Sketchbook and the Collider”, which was initiated in 2018 while Andrews was an artist in residence at the University of Birmingham. The project takes viewers on a journey where the artist’s sketchbook and the experimental physicist’s collider can both be seen as arenas where the invisible is made visible, “sometimes violently”, by bringing elements together and examining the traces of hidden interactions. It also comprises performative pieces that involve “live” drawing and the cooperation, participation and interaction of artists, scientists and members of the public.

“About 900 visitors spanning all ages, professions and cultural backgrounds engaged and interacted with the exhibition, either attracted by the arts and the science, or caught by surprise on their way to Lake Annecy, in a very special Higgs and LHC celebration year,” said organiser Claire Adam-Bourdarios of LAPP.