Meet the Curators of DARK MATTERS!
Mónica Bello is the Head of Arts at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Tilly Boleyn is Head Curator at Science Gallery Melbourne.
What are the qualities of a good curator?
Tilly: I mean, there’s literally thousands of ways to be a good curator! In this context, being really curious and wanting to connect to people— to be a conduit that brings together scientists and artists or designers and engineers, all manner of humans. One of the best qualities is seeking input to get different perspectives around such an enormous, mysterious topic like DARK MATTERS.
What excites you most about the universe?
Mónica: Everything excites me about the universe, because there are so many things that scientists and— not only scientists but researchers, thinkers, observers, tinkerers, and all of us are wondering. What can we see? What is behind this light? Things that are very far [excite me], but also those things that are very close.
How do you think people will respond to DARK MATTERS?
Tilly: I want people to come in here and have their minds blown by the very edge of what our knowledge is, and that exploration of what’s outside of our knowledge. When you look around these works and see the artists and scientists approaching this concept of dark matter, the concept of not only particle physics and the cosmos around us but the dark matter and the dark side within ourselves. I want people to come away with this sense of wonder and be interested in pushing the boundaries of knowledge.
DARK MATTERS is a collaboration with Arts at CERN. What is Arts at CERN?
Mónica: Arts at CERN brings artists into the lab to work in dialogue with scientists. The goal is to bring these two worlds together, and to force the creativity and curiosity towards physics and fundamental questions.
What is it like to co-curate an exhibition with someone living on the other side of the globe?
Tilly: It’s definitely a challenge but one that I absolutely welcome! Being part of Science Gallery, we have colleagues in galleries the whole way around the globe, so I’m very used to meetings late at night and early in the morning. One of the excellent things is that sometimes I go to bed having written questions, and when I wake up in the morning, a whole bunch of work has been done and lots of those questions are answered!
Can you tell us more about one of the artists in the show?
Mónica: Suzanne Treister has a really interesting approach when she comes to the lab and asks questions. She has a rigour that I deeply admire. And then the results, the outcomes of these proposals that she invites scientists to get involved in are outstanding! Scientific Dreaming is a great piece, and the dialogue that she creates with scientists will become a book of science fiction stories, which will trespass the gallery and go into the world.
Do artists and scientists really have that much in common?
Tilly: For me, when I think about the role of both scientists and artists, really what they’re doing is exploring and pushing the boundaries of what we know and asking questions that try to get more information about what it means to be human. What is the world around us and our interaction with it? And that’s a really beautiful thing that happens in a show like DARK MATTERS, you get these people with incredible yet different expertise bouncing off against each other, and that shifts the questions that we ask and the invitations that are made to visitors here within the space.
DARK MATTERS is exhibiting at Science Gallery Melbourne until 2 December 2023.