Public Events: Art Gallery

Fermilab is America’s national laboratory dedicated to particle physics research. To initiate and stimulate communication and interactions among scientists, artists and the public, the laboratory has created an Guest Artist program and Guest Composer program.

Fermilab is America’s premier particle physics and accelerator laboratory, seeking to explore questions like – What are we made of? How did the universe begin? What secrets do the smallest, most elemental particles of matter hold, and how can they help us understand the intricacies of space and time? (fnal.gov) We are home to thousands of scientists from around the world.

Fermilab is currently involved in more than thirty active experiments, and some of our research highlights include the discovery of the Top Quark, Bottom Quark, Tau Neutrino and recent observations in the Muon g-2 experiment. Much of our current work involved neutrino research including DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) which will send beams of neutrinos underground to a detector in South Dakota.

Since the earliest days of the laboratory, under the guidance of our founding director Robert Wilson, the relationship between art and science has been a critical one, from the design and architecture of the lab, to the sculptures scattered across the campus, to the inclusion of Ramsey Auditorium and our art gallery, built in part with the intention of creating a gathering place for the lab and the Fox Valley community.  At Fermilab, the arts have been viewed as way to not only nurture creativity and welcome our neighbors, but also to explore and share scientific ideas and concepts.

Beginning in 2014, the Fermilab Art Gallery initiated an Artist-in-Residence program, inviting visual artists to delve deeply into Fermilab science, make connections with different scientists and experiments at the lab, and harness these explorations as inspiration for new work.  The result has provided a means of expressing the science of Fermilab through the unique lens of each of our artists.  It also inspires conversations about that common ground of creativity that is necessary in both science and art.  In 2020, a Guest Composer program was added to engage and express through music as well as the visual arts.

The Fermilab Guest Artist and Guest Composer will interact with scientists at the laboratory, learn about their research, and see how it connects to society. This information will then be used to create a body of work, leading to presentations to the community and possibly an exhibition of the artwork at Fermilab. The program begins January 1, 2024 ending in December 2024.

The call for visual artists and composers is now closed. Thank you to everyone who applied for the positions.

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