We are happy to announce the winner of the 2021 Collide residency award- Black Quantum Futurism, a collective based in Philadelphia (US). The artistic duo Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips will first complete a two-month residency at CERN, followed by one month in Barcelona at the Hangar Centre for Art Research and Production, in connection with the city’s scientific laboratories.
The multidisciplinary collaboration of Black Quantum Futurism explores the intersections of futurism, creative media, DIY-aesthetics, and activism in marginalised communities through an alternative temporal lens. Their work focuses on personal, cultural, familial, and communal cycles of experience, and their expression methods range from writing, music, and film to visual art and creative research projects.
The flagship project of the Arts At CERN programme, the Collide Residency Award is an annual call that invites artists from all creative disciplines and of any nationality to undertake a research-led residency in both locations: at CERN, in Geneva, and in various laboratories and research centres in Barcelona, while based at a pioneering cultural organisation. The 2021 edition is being hosted by the Hangar Centre for Art Research.
During their residency, which is planned for summer 2021*, and in dialogue with the scientists and collaborators at CERN and in Barcelona, Ayewa and Phillips will extend their research and produce a new artwork based on their proposal entitled “CPT Symmetry and Violations”.
“The project seeks to understand the ways in which quantum physics can influence how people think about, experience, and measure time in everyday reality, exploring the possibilities that quantum physics offers beyond the limitations of traditional, linear notions of time,” explain the artists. “Through the project, we will connect with scientists based at CERN to learn more about their investigations of time in physics – specifically through studying experiments being done on CPT symmetry, CERN scientists’ investigations into quantum theories of gravity, and other phenomena of quantum physics as it concerns inquiries into time.”
The scope of this proposal will include a research period at CERN and a second, developmental phase in Barcelona in dialogue with various scientific laboratories and hosted at Hangar, where the artists will have the opportunity to expand their research and test its applications through Barcelona’s scientific and cultural network, as well as to engage with a wide range of cultural and scientific communities.
Additionally, the jury selected three Honorary Mentions: Rosa Barba (Italy, based in Berlin), Tania Candiani (Mexico, based in Mexico City) and Dennis Dizon (Philippines, based in Barcelona). They will be invited to take part in the Guest Artist programme of Arts at CERN: a short stay at the Laboratory to investigate and research ideas to support their proposals.
In the 2021 open call, a total of 564 project proposals were received from 79 different countries for this ninth edition of Collide. The diversity reach and quality of the proposals were remarkable, and the decision was challenging. The jury was composed of: Mónica Bello, curator, and head of Arts at CERN; Stefanie Hessler, director of Kunsthall Trondheim; Lluis Nacenta, director of Hangar; Rosa Pera, independent curator; and Helga Timko, accelerator physicist at CERN. Collide has been organized in collaboration with Barcelona’s Institute of Culture and Barcelona City Council since 2019 as part of a three-year collaboration (2019-2021).
We congratulate all the winners and honorary mentions and wish the artistic duo the very best for their upcoming residency!
Arts at CERN is a Culture & Creativity programme of the CERN & Society Foundation. This edition of Collide has been made possible thanks to the generous donations received by the Barcelona’s Institute of Culture and Barcelona City Council.
*If exceptional COVID-19-related circumstances impacting travel and mobility arise during the residency period, a special residency model might be adopted. In such cases, the artist, and scientific partners, as well as the CERN curators, would be in remote contact over a period of up to six months or until the project’s completion.