Particular Score III

A Particular Score, 2023

AATB
Plastic scintillator, electronics, solenoid hammer, aluminum, 12 quartz crystal tubes

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles originating from stars in the Milky Way and beyond. While trillions of cosmic rays hit the Earth every day, the atmosphere blocks the vast majority. The cosmic rays that go through and strike atmospheric particles create showers of secondary particles that reach the planet’s surface. As a result, an invisible flux continuously bathes all of our surroundings.

A Particular Score makes this cosmic stream tangible through real-time sound at the CERN Community Support Centre. When the sculpture detects a particle, it reacts by striking one of the 12 quartz crystal tubes, generating an unpredictable sequence of audible tones. The score thus evolves irregularly and randomly with each impact. It renders perceptibly a glimpse of a phenomenon that surrounds us and yet goes beyond us.

AATB is an artist group formed by Andrea Anner and Thibault Brevet. In 2023, they were artists in residence at CERN as part of Connect, the collaborative framework between Arts at CERN and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. 

A Particular Score was originally commissioned by Bienal da Maia, Portugal in 2019, and reworked for the exhibition Cosmos at Grand Hornu, Belgium in 2021. The present iteration was created inspired by their residency with Arts at CERN in 2023 and was shown at Mudac, Lausanne (Switzerland) as part of the exhibition Space is the Place in the same year.