Semiconductor – HALO

19th May – 4th June 2021
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

HALO is a large-scale immersive installation by Brighton-based artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt AKA Semiconductor. The work was developed after a residency spent at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, where the artists worked with raw datasets from the Large Hadron Collider. The installation takes the form of a vast cylindrical structure, four meters tall and ten meters wide. It features 360º image projections and 384 piano strings, strung vertically around the circumferences of the structure. The strings are mechanically activated, creating an immersive field of sound. The behaviour of the audio and visual elements are influenced from the data of particle collisions at CERN, a process that occurs close to the speed of light. HALO reanimates sixty of these collisions into this audiovisual installation, providing a unique insight into a complex and usually incomprehensible process.

HALO received its UK premiere at the 2021 Brighton Festival , hosted at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (@attenboroughctr) from 19th May until 14th June 2021. The work is an Audemars Piguet Art commission and was curated by Mónica Bello in collaboration with CERN.