CERN

Data streams in the world’s largest particle accelerator.
Visible to everyone.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known as CERN, goes into the minutest detail to probe and discover the origins of the universe. The organization consists of 21 countries, which in 2012 created a furor with the discovery that the “God particle” behaves just as predicted.

Currently, scientists are researching the properties of dark matter – stuff that’s straight out of a science fiction novel. It’s the type of thing that’s practically tailor-made to stir interest in basic research in physics and to make science fascinating to the public.

And, that interest is in fact enormous: the permanent exhibition “Universe of Particles“ attracts 60 to 70-thousand visitors to Geneva annually. Reason enough for CERN to extend the show by adding three new Visit Points. One of them is the control centre.With the help of a lighting installation, this part of the exhibition renders the immense data streams visible in order to bring to life the magnitude of data that actually flows into the real particle accelerator control centre during one of the many experiments at CERN.

The control centre was planned and designed by Atelier Brückner GmbH. The media planning and installation was carried out by iart ag.

A central element of the exhibition space is a 3 × 13 meter wall on the long side of the room. The wall panels can be driven individually. A total of approximately 1.000 LED-Strips L25-250S MK2 in 6500K and 390 intelligences were built in. The power is supplied by four System Power Supplies 4E. The LED-strips are controlled via a Pixel-Gate Light.