ARTIST INSTALLATION — THE GIFT OF MASS

In 2012, a few months after the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson, the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) conceived The Gift of Mass to popularise the importance of this achievement and realised it in collaboration with embrio.net collective and Paolo Scoppola. 

This immersive audio-visual installation invites the visitors to live the impossible experience of acquiring their own mass. The visitor goes virtually from a Universe in which particles having no mass move without distinguishing themselves, to a Universe where mass is formed through an invisible sea, the Higgs Field.

Realised by:
Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN)

Concept and Scientific Project:
Vincenzo Napolano, Antonella Varaschin
INFN Communication Department

Audio-visual Project:
embrio.net and Paolo Scoppola

The Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is the Italian research agency dedicated to the study of the fundamental constituents of matter and the laws that govern them. 

Since 2007, INFN Communication Department has been using artistic languages and new technologies to create visual metaphors of scientific ideas and to communicate to the general public. The department has curated, in collaboration with visual artists and interaction designers, several multimedia and interactive installations at the crossing between art and science. These have been presented in Museums and Festivals in Italy and around the World and seen by hundreds of thousands of spectators.

embrio.net collective is a collective of multimedia artists based in Rome. For many years active in the digital post-production area, it makes cross-media one of its most effective channels of expression. Since 2003, it has produced visuals and audio-video installations housed in large social and cultural events such as Enzimi Contemporary Art Fest and the Venice Biennale, commissioned by institutions such as the City of Rome, the Department for Equal Opportunities, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Paolo Scoppola has been creating interactive video installations since 1998. A graduate in Computer Science, he is also an avid musician and photographer. He initially worked for Italian companies before presenting his first personal work at the Spoleto Festival in 2008. His works are realised on large projection screens in which the viewer becomes part of the installation. He has collaborated with the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), UNESCO, Ducati, Barilla, various European Universities and Theatres.