Will art tell the story of science? Dialogues between art and science on frontier topics in fundamental physics

The major themes of scientific and technological research, and even of fundamental physics, from discoveries at particle accelerators to the new gravitational and multimessenger astronomy, inspire the work of contemporary artists. The dialogue between art and science is one of the most innovative and promising frontiers of contemporary culture. Artistic interpretation and reworking of scientific content can often succeed in illuminating aspects and meanings that are 'collateral’, and not immediate for the scientists themselves, but which can be of great impact for society and other communities and audiences. In particular, the dialogue path developed in recent years by the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) with several artists, well known in the international scene, will be described. In addition to presenting the process and outcome of these collaborative experiences, it is intended to propose a more general reflection on the method and approach deployed in the interaction between scientists and artists; to discuss how contemporary art interprets problematic nodes or major research innovations with unprecedented aesthetic imagery and the fact that these artistic researches and the parallel initiatives of contemporary art museums or hybrid cultural centers are in fact experimenting with new formats of communicating science, broadening its perspective and values.