Lou Masduraud (Switzerland) and Shailesh BR (India) are the two selected artists for the dual residency, carried out by Arts at CERN, in collaboration with Pro Helvetia.
Connect is a biannual juried residency that supports outstanding practice by artists at any stage of their career that are interested in the dialogue between art and science. Connect India invited a selection of artists to propose ideas for a residency in both Switzerland and India.
The two artists, Lou Masduraud and Shailesh BR, selected through a board of cultural experts, are invited to a three-week residency at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bengaluru, by a three-week stay at CERN, in Geneva. They will receive support from the curatorial teams from Arts at CERN and ICTS to explore new forms of artistic expression and transform these explorations into art productions.
About the artists
Lou Masduraud
Lou Masduraud lives and works in Geneva. Through sculpture and installation, Masduraud proposes alternative narratives to dominant realities. Her body of work explores the intricate network of human activities through formal and material investigations of everyday elements such as fountains, basement windows and pipes, both in public and private spaces.
Shailesh BR
Shailesh BR is a visual artist based in Delhi NCR, India. His practice explores fundamental aspects of our world by examining existing knowledge, systems, traditions, and philosophical thoughts. Utilising a diverse visual vocabulary, he incorporates methods from science, technology into his artistic interventions, creating drawings, object modifications, and machines.
About the residency
Connect India offers these artists a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge fundamental science research in Geneva and Bengaluru. At CERN, physicists and engineers design and use a wide array of experiments in particle physics, while ICTS focuses on theoretical sciences, encompassing fields like physics, mathematics, astronomy, and computational biology.
About
Connect India marks the second collaboration with ICTS, following successful dual residencies at scientific organisations in Switzerland, Chile and South Africa. Since its launch in 2021, the Connect collaboration between Pro Helvetia and Arts at CERN has hosted seven editions.