Polish artist Dorota Gawęda and Lithuanian artist Eglė Kulbokaitė, a duo based in Basel, Switzerland, have been selected as the winners of this year’s edition of the Collide award alongside three Honorary Mentions.

Collide is the flagship programme of Arts at CERN, which invites artists worldwide from all creative disciplines to submit proposals for a research-led residency based on interaction with CERN’s scientific community. This year’s Collide residency award received 388 submissions from 75 countries.

Working together since 2013, Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė’s multi-faceted practice navigates between performance, fragrance, installation, sculpture, video and painting, all of which are rooted in feminist theory and fiction. Their winning proposal is entitled “Gusla” and derives from Polish rural folklore.

In 2022, Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė will extend their collaborative practice during a two-month residency at CERN, working with scientists, engineers and staff of the Laboratory. Later, they will spend one month in Barcelona connecting and engaging in dialogue with scientists from the city while being hosted at the Hangar Centre for Art Research and Production.

The artists are deeply inspired by fundamental physics, especially how quantum physics in relation to living organisms exposes the “strangeness” of the world. “We hope that the engagement with quantum physics has the potential to break normative patterns of human behaviour and negotiate new ways of relating to the natural world,” the duo declare. Engaging with concepts from fundamental physics and drawing from Eastern European summoning rituals, their research calls forth speculative worlds and fictions.

Additionally, the jury selected three Honorary Mentions: Indonesian filmmaker Riar Rizaldi, New Zealand-based collective The Observatory Project and Barcelona-based Colombian artist María Paz. They will be invited to take part in Arts at CERN’s Guest Artists programme – a short stay at the Laboratory to engage with CERN’s research and community and investigate ideas to support their proposals.

The jury was composed of Mónica Bello, Curator and Head of Arts at CERN, Geneva; Valentino Catricalà, Curator of the SODA Gallery, Manchester; Lluis Nacenta, Director of Hangar, Barcelona; Rosa Pera, independent curator, Barcelona; and Helga Timko, Accelerator Physicist at CERN, Geneva.

Collide has been organised in collaboration with Barcelona’s Institute of Culture and Barcelona City Council since 2019 as part of a three-year collaboration (2019–2021).

Collide is a CERN & Society Foundation project, if you also believe in the combined creative power of art and science to explore and make sense in the universe, please help us keep the dialogue going.