CERN through the lens of Peter Ginter

This summer, passers-by along the Quai Wilson on the banks of Lake Geneva will be able to enjoy an unusual exhibition of photographs devoted to CERN and the LHC.

CERN will reach an important milestone in 2008 with the start-up of the LHC, opening a new window on our Universe for physicists around the world. To celebrate this event with the people who live around Lake Geneva and visitors to the area, CERN and the city of Geneva are jointly putting on the photography exhibition "CERN through the lens of Peter Ginter", which opens on 29 May.

Fifty images from the work of Peter Ginter, organized into themes, give strollers on the Quai Wilson a glimpse of the unique human and scientific adventure at CERN.

A group of some fifty images taken by the German photographer will be displayed along the Quai Wilson, just opposite Geneva’s famous landmark, the Jet d’eau, giving passers-by a very personal view of the world of particle physics.

An exhibition panel, showing a scientist against the background of ALICE’s huge red electromagnet.

Peter Ginter’s fascination with this field of science goes back a long way, as does his association with the Laboratory. Since 2000, the photographer has been recording the construction of the LHC and its experiments for posterity. The photographs that Peter Ginter has chosen for this show tell the story of the LHC adventure: the human challenge, the science, its technology and its international dimension.

"What makes these photos so compelling is that they convey the full splendour of the technology but never lose sight of the human dimension," explains Corinne Pralavorio, one of the exhibition designers.

The exhibition is organized around eight grand themes that illustrate the LHC project’s main characteristics. The back of each panel highlights fascinating facts about the accelerator, its experiments, or particle physics in general. The background colours are chosen so that, when seen from a distance, the row of panels will form a rainbow along the Quai Wilson.

On the banks of Lake Geneva
May to July