“Wonder is the seed of all knowledge”

Within Europe that is financially unstable, demographically adrift, economically turbulent, militarily uncertain, politically restless and ecologically rigid, the seemingly idyllic enclave of Switzerland is characterized by financial and economic stability, ecological and industrial progressiveness and political and military neutrality. The clichés of Switzerland are visible: image, desired society and wealth seem true.

In CERN (Geneva, CH), the oldest joint venture in Europe with 22 participating countries, fundamental experimental research is taking place into the elementary architecture of the universe, its forces and structure of space and time. Their creed? "Wonder is the seed of all knowledge". This research relies less and less on visual observations. Instead, radio waves, mathematical projections and gravitational fields are mainstream. Because of political and financial support research and results must be visualised through images, for convincing and communicating.

Both photography and video are directly related to our philosophical understanding of "space" and "time" and are where both meet in one and the same reality. It is around this idea, the space where these two seemingly separated worlds come together, that the project CERN / CH was created.

Switzerland and CERN are two balancing forces of "the real" that spanned a 3-year period. The CERN / CH project is about the facts of image, combinin science and metaphysics. It is a visual metaphor for the micro cosmos of our daily lives.

A diptych video installation ‘The Valley Continuüm (2018) was created as part of this project and can be viewed here