Title: The speed of light
Description: In September 2011, in an underground laboratory in Italy, researchers recorded tiny particles (neutrinos) fired from another lab in Switzerland, seven hundred kilometres away, arriving sooner than expected. This finding rocked Einstein?s foundations of modern physics, which are based on the assumption that nothing can travel faster than light. Would this moment mark the emergence of a grand new theory? Scientists were confused; some were going crazy, while others remained deeply sceptical. In the end, the sceptics were right: almost a year later, researchers blamed the faulty results of the experiment on a loose fibre optic cable.00Visual artist and filmmaker Mels van Zutphen, fascinated by science and technology, decided to create an artistic and slightly ironic visual statement on these scientific events. He followed the path of the neutrinos from Geneva to Gran Sasso by car in twelve days; a neutrino only needs a fraction of a second to travel the same distance.0'The Speed of Light' contains a link to Van Zutphens accompanying road movie (25 minutes), a detailed map of the experiment, and extensive background-information on the project.
Subjects: Travel, Dutch Art, Automobile driving, Neutrinos, Physics in art, Artists' books
Places: Switzerland, France, Italy, Netherlands
People: Mels van Zutphen (1963-)
Time periods: 21st century