London-based artist Oksana Kondratyeva has created a new stained-glass artwork – entitled Discovery – that is inspired by the detection of the Higgs boson at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012.
Born in Ukraine, Kondratyeva has a PhD in the theory of architecture and has an artist residency at the Romont Glass Museum (Vitromusée Romont) in Switzerland, where Discovery is currently exhibited.
In 2023, Kondratyeva travelled to visit the LHC at CERN, which she notes represents “more than a laboratory [but] a gateway to the unknown”.
“Discovery draws inspiration from the awe I felt standing at the frontier of human knowledge, where particles collide at unimaginable energies and new forms of matter are revealed,” Kondratyeva told Physics World.
Kondratyeva says that the focal point of the artwork – a circle structured with geometric precision – represents the collision of two high-energy protons.
The surrounding lead lines in the panel trace the trajectories of particle decays as they move through a magnetic field: right-curved lines represent positively charged particles, left-curved lines indicate negatively charged ones, while straight lines signify neutral particles unaffected by the magnetic field.
The geometric composition within the central circle reflects the hidden symmetries of physical laws – patterns that only emerge when studying the behaviour of particle interactions.
Kondratyeva says that the use of mouth-blown flashed glass adds further depth to the piece, with colours and subtle shades moving from hot and luminous at the centre to cooler, more subdued tones toward the edges.
“Through glass, light and colour I sought to express the invisible forces and delicate symmetries that define our universe – ideas born in the realm of physics, yet deeply resonant in artistic expression,” notes Kondratyeva. “The work also continues a long tradition of stained glass as a medium of storytelling, reflecting the deep symmetries of nature and the human drive to find order in chaos.”
In 2022, Kondratyeva teamed up with Rigetti Computing to create piece of art inspired by the packaging for a quantum chip. Entitled Per scientiam ad astra (through science to the stars), the artwork was displayed at the 2024 British Glass Biennale at the Ruskin Glass Centre in Stourbridge, UK.
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