Physical Spells [The Wor(l)d in the Atom]

Artist-in-Residence: Violeta López López
The second MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist-in-Residence, Violeta López López, of Spain spent three months during fall semester 2024 embedded in the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a world-unique rare-isotope research facility. From this experience, López López is creating an art installation called Physical Spells [The Wor(l)d in the Atom] that will be hosted by the MSU Museum CoLab Studio at 311 Abbot in downtown East Lansing.

Physical Spells [The Wor(l)d in the Atom]
Looking at physics from the perspective of linguistics may sound like an act of black magic or the definitive detachment of reality, but, behind the invisibility cloak of particles, it is possible to find the secret verses where both intertwine their labyrinths. Physical Spells [The Wor(l)d in the Atom] explores unexpected ways of understanding physics as if it were language, leading to the discovery of its own linguistic layer. Phonetics arising from the voice of the experimental areas at FRIB where particles trace their routes, morphology revealed in the realm of quarks, syntax writing metaphors in the processes of metamorphose of isotopes. The exhibition proposes an interactive exploration of this world of words in the world of atoms, making the public a key element that activates the processes and dialogues with the artworks, delving into their own research.

Read more about the MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist-in-Residence program in MSU Today.

The MSUFCU Arts Power Up Arts Residency at FRIB program is generously supported by an endowed gift from the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union.