Subatomic

Carnegie Library Lecture Hall & Carnegie Museum of Art

February 26
6:30 – 9 p.m.

Photography and particle physics will collide at a world premiere screening event at Carnegie Lecture Hall and Carnegie Museum of Art.

Pittsburghers will be among the first to view the new documentary, Subatomic: The European Organization for Nuclear Research, the fifth installment of the Hillman Photography Initiative’s Invisible Photograph series. The special event includes a film screening, discussion program and cocktail party.

Investigating how photographic technologies aid scientists in visualizing subatomic worlds, Subatomic presents a behind-the-scenes look at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), based outside of Geneva, Switzerland. Operating the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, CERN scientists use old and new photographic technologies to probe fundamental structures of the universe.

It was at CERN where one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the past century was made—the detection of the Higgs boson in 2013. Captured with the aid of the ATLAS Detector—the world’s largest digital camera—the so-called “God particle” is an elementary particle in the standard model of particle physics and considered to be a building block of the universe.

Viewers will follow along with The Invisible Photograph film crew, which gained extensive access to CERN’s ATLAS detector—situated 100 meters underground—and the Antiproton Decelerator hall, ground zero for experiments involving anti-matter.

If this sounds like the makings of a sci-fi flick, you’ll just have to see the footage for yourself. Shot in 2013, the film features key interviews with Michael Doser of the AEgIS experiment, Neal Hartman of the ATLAS detector and Ariane Koek of CERN’s artist residency program.

A post-screening conversation will feature Arthur Ou, creative director of The Invisible Photograph series, CERN particle physicist Michael Doser and CERN mechanical engineer Neal Hartman.

Attendees will also enjoy a cocktail party at Carnegie Museum of Art featuring custom libations and time to mingle with the project’s creators and stars, CERN scientists and museum staff. The Museum’s galleries—including the brand new exhibitions, Antoine Catala: Distant Feel and Sketch to Structure—will be open to until 8 p.m. that night.

Can’t make the event on February 26th? Watch Subatomic online starting on Friday, February 27 at 10 a.m.

Tickets are going quickly, so grab them today.

Jennifer has worked at the Mattress Factory, Brooklyn Museum of Art and Dahesh Museum of Art and is co-author of Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania. She also is co-coordinator of Handmade Arcade. Musically, she is in a band called The Garment District and is a founding member of Brooklyn's The Ladybug Transistor.