To coincide with their work HALO being presented at MAST Mayflower Studios from 21–30 June, John Hansard Gallery are delighted to show Semiconductor’s film The View from Nowhere.

The View from Nowhere is a single channel moving image work which explores humankind’s place in nature through the science and technology of CERN, the particle physics laboratory in Geneva.

Driven by an interest in the material nature of our physical world and how we experience it through the lens of science and technology, Semiconductor go looking for the techniques that are developed at CERN which ask fundamental questions about nature, and the languages which ensue to make sense of it.

Through juxtaposing discussions around the application and processes of theoretical physics with filmed footage in CERN’s hi-tech workshops, Semiconductor explore the dichotomy that is revealed between the surprisingly creative pursuit of theoretically modelling our physical universe and the fixed/hard classical nature of producing instrumentation to test these notions. It reveals a sense of the scientific frameworks developed by humankind to explore matter beyond the limits of human experience, whilst raising questions about our place in the larger nature of reality.

The title The View from Nowhere refers to the philosophical concept that science should remain an objective analysis of the natural world if it is to be seen as having value.

Co-commissioned by Arts at CERN, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool) and Le Lieu Unique.