Broken Symmetries brings together artists who aim to understand and question the physical world by navigating the shifting realities of modern science.

The underlying nature of the universe remains ever-elusive. But now, thanks to the technological and scientific breakthroughs of the last hundred years, we are more able than ever to understand the nature of this hidden realm, revealing and interpreting the symmetries which govern our existence.

This inquiry into existence has long served as an inspiration to many artists. Through scientific and artistic collaborations, this exhibition brings together ten new commissions by international artists who creatively explore questions and connections that may contribute to the understanding of the hidden world, and the impact it has on our lives.

Go to ARTWORKS to see a full list of works and find out more.

Go to NEWS to read interviews with each of the artists and watch the opening talks which included discussions with the artists, curators and physicists involved.

This exhibition began with Collide International, the flagship programme created in collaboration between Arts at CERN and FACT. Between 2015-2018, a group of artists were invited to CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Geneva) to advance their artistic practice by establishing a dialogue with engineers and particle physicists. The exhibitions brings together the ten works produced by this exchange.

Since premiering at FACT in 2018 as Broken Symmetries, the exhibition has toured to CCCB (Barcelona, Spain) as Quantum, to iMAL (Brussels, Belgium) as Quantica: In Search of the Invisible and to National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (Taiwan) as Broken Symmetries. It will later travel to Le Lieu Unique (Nantes, Frances) and Kumu (Tallinn, Estonia).