The INFN Art&Science Across Italy exhibition cycle opens with Potenza: 200 students from Basilicata bring the union of art and science to life by showcasing their works at the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Potenza, Via Lazio 18, from September 18 to October 3
Today, September 18, the exhibition Atoms of imagination opens at the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Potenza. It is part of the national school project Art&Science Across Italy, organised by the National Institute for Nuclear Physics INFN and CERN in collaboration with Italian Universities.
The Potenza and Matera exhibition is organised by INFN in collaboration with and with the support of the University of Basilicata, and under the patronage of the Province of Potenza. The exhibition is part of a cycle of 19 shows to be held in as many Italian cities within the 2024-2026 edition of Art&Science Across Italy. The opening event is scheduled for today, September 18, at 5.30 pm, and will include the talks “New Digital Humanism” by Silvio Giordano, visual artist and lecturer in generative AI for TreccaniAcademy, and “Future visions: art, science and creativity in the age of AI” by Fiorella Fiore, contemporary art historian.
The two-year project, now in its fifth edition, aims to bring young people closer to the world of science through the language of art and it is run by INFN in collaboration with CERN in Geneva and, since 2022, the University of Naples Federico II. The 2024-2026 edition involves around 5,000 students from 146 schools. The students will create over 800 works in total, which will be exhibited in 19 local shows between September 2025 and April 2026, culminating in a national exhibition that will include the works selected during the local stages.
The Potenza and Matera exhibition brings together more than 70 works created by 200 students from six secondary schools in Basilicata, alongside some works by international artists participating in the Art@CMS project. Each piece was inspired by a scientific topic, spanning a range of disciplines from physics to geology, and was produced following a series of seminars and meetings with researchers held over the past year.
The most notable works displayed in the exhibition will be awarded on Thursday 25 September during the event “Unibas per le scuole”, held at the Macchia Romana Campus of the University of Basilicata. The event will feature participating students and researchers, Professor Guido Masiello from the University of Basilicata, who will give a lecture entitled “Global warming: first denied, then ignored and now distorted”, and science journalist and author Silvia Bencivelli, who will speak on “What we talk about when we talk about science”.
The awarded works will go on to form part of the national exhibition and competition, to be held at the MANN – National Archaeological Museum of Naples in spring 2026 (dates to be confirmed). The 30 winners of the national competition will receive a scholarship to attend a one-week masterclass on the relationship between art and science, held either at INFN laboratories or at CERN.
The secondary schools in Basilicata taking part in the project are from Potenza (Liceo Scientifico “Galileo Galilei”, Liceo Classico “Quinto Orazio Flacco”, Liceo Statale “Walter Gropius”), Rionero in Vulture (PZ) (I.I.S. “Giustino Fortunato”), Marsico Nuovo (PZ) (I.I.S. “G. Peano”), Policoro (MT) (I.I.S. “Enrico Fermi”).
Art&Science Across Italy
The Art&Science Across Italy project, which runs over two years, involves students in their third, fourth and fifth years of secondary school, with the aim of bringing them closer to scientific research while embracing their individual interests and talents. During the first year, students take part in seminars, workshops and visits to museums and laboratories, which serve as inspiration for creating artistic works on scientific themes. The works produced are exhibited and awarded in regional exhibitions, and the most significant ones are then included in the final national exhibition.
Since its first edition, Art&Science Across Italy has involved over 16,000 students from 15 Italian regions, where the project is coordinated by researchers from INFN divisions and local Universities.
For the 2024-2026 edition, the planned exhibition stages are: Bari, Biella, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Ferrara, Florence, Frascati, Genoa, L’Aquila/Teramo, Lecce, Milan, Naples, Padua, Perugia, Pisa, Potenza, Rome, Turin. The full calendar will be published in January.
Partners of Art&Science Across Italy
The 2022-2024 edition of Art&Science Across Italy was organised through collaboration between INFN, CERN and the University of Naples Federico II, with the patronage of RAI Campania and media partners RAI Cultura and RAI Radio 3.
Information on the exhibition Atoms of Imagination. Young talents create science
Venue: Provincial Archaeological Museum of Potenza, Via Lazio 18
Dates: 18 September – 3 October 2025
Opening hours:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 8:00-13:00
Tuesday and Thursday: 8:00-13:00 and 15:00-17:30
Free admission
For updates on Art&Science Across Italy exhibitions, visit the project’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/artandscienceacrossitaly
All news and information on Art&Science Across Italy:
https://artandscience.infn.it/
