CERN / CH

Within Europe that is financially unstable, demographically adrift, economically turbulent, militarily expectant, 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 cliché images of Switzerland are known: this is where dream, desired society and image come together.

In CERN (Geneva, CH), the oldest joint venture in Europe with 22 participating countries, avant garde experimental research is carried out into the elementary architecture of our universe, its mutual forces and the structure of space and time. Their creed: \"Wonder is the seed of knowledge\". However, the research relies less and less on visual observations. Instead, radio waves, mathematical projections, and gravitational fields. It is because of the need of a political and financial support base that this must be visualized convincingly through images, as a seducer and as a communicator.

Photography and video, technical media and directly related to the philosophical understanding of \"space\" and \"time\" construct the field where both meet and where image and reality form one and the same reality. It is where these two seemingly separate worlds come together that CERN / CH was created.

Switzerland and CERN are the two balancing forces around the idea of \"the real\" in this project, which spanned several photo trips over a 3-year period. The CERN / CH project combines facts with image, science with metaphysics. The project is the visual metaphor for the micro cosmos of our daily existence.