SPECIAL EXHIBIT CERN 1 – 27 July 2025

Lois Lammerhuber © Francis Giacobetti

CERN – the European Organisation for Nuclear Research – is an international research centre established in 1954. CERN is the largest particle physics research laboratory in the world. It is located near Geneva and extends over both Swiss and French territory. It currently has 23 member states and 10 associate members. The decisions on the scientific activities of the centre are taken by the CERN Council, in which all member states are represented. The data from CERN’s research projects are publicly available and are analysed by universities and institutions worldwide. More than 17,000 people are involved in CERN projects at the international level. This makes the laboratory a prime example of international cooperation. 

The feasibility study for the future circular accelerator, Future Circular Collider (FCC), envisages the construction of a new research infrastructure that could include several particle accelerators. Assuming a positive outcome to the feasibility study and the approval of the CERN member states, construction could begin in the early 2030s. The centrepiece of the FCC project is a new tunnel with a circumference of around 100 km in the French-Swiss border area around Geneva. The first step would be the construction of an electron-positron ring accelerator, a veritable Higgs factory. This would enable measurements of the highest accuracy to examine all known particles of the Standard Model in detail.

The travelling exhibition was conceived, curated, photographed and designed by Lois Lammerhuber on behalf of CERN, under the leadership of Michael Benedikt. So far, it has been shown in Brussels, Grenoble, Trieste, Genova, Zurich, Fribourg, Munich, Bratislava, Graz and Vienna.