We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.
At this very moment, we are being bombarded by billions of rays coming from every direction in outer space. The energy they carry is extremely diverse. It corresponds to their cosmic origins, ranging from emissions from the sun and those of other stars to physical processes at the edge of the perceivable universe that we have not yet investigated.
Memory Vapour (2011) is a cloud chamber combined with an electrostatic particle accelerator, illuminated by a white scanning laser sheet. It transforms its cold gaseous contents into a dynamic prism. Various cosmic elements (ionized nuclei, muons, antiprotons, electrons and positrons) are traced by condensation droplets. Each of these droplets is transformed by the laser into a luminous micro-lens.
The laser is then used to slow down their movement, like in a slow-motion movie. The traces of cosmic rays are decelerated and unblurred, so that we can see them. The viewer can then realise that the empty space, that appears to be motionless, conceals an overflow of continuous cosmic energy.
In a dialogue with particle physics by Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand.
Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand website.
More about the work on the artists' website.
22 May 2026 | 15 Jul 2026
