An invisible matter is having a gravitational effect on everything. Without the gravity of this “dark” matter, galaxies would fly apart. Observational data in astroparticle physics indicate that it exists, but so far dark matter hasn’t been detected directly.

Given the contours of such an unknown, artists Nadia Lichtig, Josèfa Ntjam, Anne Riley, and Jol Thoms reflect on the “how” and “why” of physics and art as diverse and interrelating practices of knowledge. Through their openness to exchange between disciplines, they have created works that emerge as multi-sensory agents between the scientific ideas of dark matter and the exploration of that which has never been directly sensed.

Drift: Art and Dark Matter is based on a residency in which four artists of national and international stature were invited to make new work while engaging with physicists, chemists, and engineers contributing to the search for dark matter at SNOLAB’s facility in Sudbury, two kilometres below the surface of the Earth.

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