Geneva, 14 May 2012. Space, time and gravity are under the cultural spotlight at CERN¹ this month with the arrival of Gilles Jobin, the laboratory's first choreographer in residence and winner of the Collide@CERN Geneva² prize, which is supported by the Canton and City of Geneva. Jobin is an internationally renowned Swiss choreographer with a company in Geneva. His CERN inspiration partner for his three-month residency at the laboratory will be the multimedia producer and visualization specialist, João Pequenão, who studied physics at the University of Lisbon.

To mark the occasion, Gilles Jobin and João Pequenão will give a public presentation in CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation on Wednesday 23 May about movement in dance and particle physics. Doors open at 6.30pm with a prompt 7pm start.

“It will be fascinating to see how Gilles Jobin explores particle physics through dance and movement following creative dialogues with CERN scientists and science,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer.

The Collide@CERN Geneva prize is the second strand in the Collide@CERN Artists Residency programme launched by CERN in 2011. Jobin was given the award by a jury for his proposal to explore through dance the relationship between mind and body at the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

“The opportunity to be in contact with what is the largest scientific experiment in the world in my own city is extraordinarily fascinating as well as intellectually challenging,” said Jobin. “Passion is what we share and a choreographer deals with time and space while CERN scientists deal with movement and space at sub atomic levels. Conceptually, for a choreographer to realize that gravity, the major force I am dealing with every day, is the weakest of the four fundamental forces of nature is mind blowing.”

At the 23 May presentation, Jobin and Pequenão will make individual presentations of their work and then discuss the potential of their forthcoming creative collisions at CERN. CERN’s cultural specialist Ariane Koek will chair the discussion and take questions from the audience.

“Both Gilles and João have cross-over connections which is what makes their partnership so exciting,” said Koek. “They are both experts in the visualization of abstract ideas through movement – Gilles does this through dance, João does this through multimedia representations of the complexity of particle physics.”

During the residency, the public will be able to follow and comment on the experience and interchanges through a blog on the Arts@CERN website featuring their exchanges. During his residency, Jobin will appear at the City of Geneva's Nuit de la Science on 7 and 8 July, and give a final lecture after the end of his residency in October.

Journalists interested in attending the presentation on 23 May should register with the CERN Press Office by sending a request to press.office@cern.ch.

Members of the public, including CERN personnel, who wish to attend should register their requests for seats with merce.monje.cano@cern.ch.

Contact:

Ariane Koek, ariane.koek@cern.ch
Cultural specialist, CERN
+41 22 767 52 46

Further information:

• Collide@CERN

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 is an Associate Member 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.