Commission

The field of astroparticles lies at the interface between the study of infinitely large and the infinitely small, between particle physics and astrophysics, raising issues of agenda that are all the while scientific, conceptual and philosophical. The Astroparticle and Cosmology (APC) laboratory was founded in 2005 to bring together the different communities (experimentalists, theorists and observers) involved in this field.

 The laboratory is particularly attentive to its mission of disseminating knowledge: to publicize the scientific fields covered, the outstanding results, but also the technical achievements and more generally how the lab lives day by day.
In 2012 was celebrated the centenary of discovery of cosmic rays by the Austrian physicist Victor Franz Hess. Several Astrophysicists linked to the Astroparticle and Cosmology laboratory want to take this occasion to order an artwork that embodies not only the scientific issues but also the physical, conceptual and even spiritual concerns related to the discovery and study of astroparticles.
Beyond the usual museum displays that explain in a pedagogical way what the cosmic rays are, the commissioners think that only a work of art will be able to cristallize the complexity and the significance of a phenomenon for which the observation situates us at the interface between astrophysics and metaphysics. Facing a subject which beyond human understanding and analytical capacity, the commissioners wanted to commission by an artist a work that embodies, rather than illustrating, the complexity of a situation.
the commission was entrusted to the Hungarian artist ATTILA CSÖRGŐ who exposed the prototype of the work at the DOCUMENTA 13 IN KASSEL in 2012.

Artwork

Entitled Squaring The Circle, the work is an apparatus as well allegorical as scientific which turns a circle into a square thanks to the reflection of a mirror. Resolving in an unexpected and spectacular way the famous mathematical problem "Squaring the circle", Attila Csörgő proposed at the same time a symbolical, minimalist, conceptual and poetical representation of the cosmos.

Attila Csörgő

Attila Csörgö was born in Hungary in 1965. He lives and works in Warsaw.
Attila Csörgö is particularly interested in the complexity of the world and the structure of outer space. His work carries us into a universe that combines art and science. Inspired by perspective, geometric shapes and applied mathematics, the Hungarian artist creates complex installations which upon first glance appear to be bricolage, but which are dynamic visual experiences.