Decoherence
News
Bath Spa University and Little Lost Robot take local young people to the international stage with CERN collaboration
Tuesday, 21 October, 2025A pioneering partnership between Bath Spa University and creative collective Little Lost Robot is connecting young people in Radstock to the world stage through art, science and technology.
With funding from Arts Council England and the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WEMCA) Mayoral Priority Support Fund, the project enabled 12 local young artists not in full-time work or education to co-create DECOHERENCE — an interactive light installation exploring quantum physics, developed in collaboration with the CERN Festival Programme.
The CERN Festival Programme brings the spirit of discovery to major cultural events across Europe, engaging audiences beyond traditional scientific spaces. With a Science Pavilion present at different music festivals around the world, the project is designed to reach national populations with the ultimate goal of encouraging people’s interest in STEM and attracting future scientific talents.
In July 2025, five of the young people travelled to the Colours of Ostrava Festival in Ostrava, Czechia, where they presented their work alongside CERN’s Big Bang Stage, a platform designed to spark curiosity about science through music, art and performance.
DECOHERENCE is an interactive art piece that explores the behavior of quantum systems. The audience is invited to become an observer, triggering interactions that cause the particles within the piece to collapse into a single state – or ‘decohere’. According to the ‘many worlds’ interpretation of quantum mechanics, each act of observation doesn’t just determine a particle’s behavior; it causes the universe to branch. Every possible outcome unfolds in its own parallel reality, where the particle behaves differently.
Ruby Sant, Inclusive Communities Development Officer at BSU and Co-Director of Little Lost Robot, said:
“We built the work with a group of young artists as a teaching opportunity to develop large scale immersive build skills. They were all amazing, and I'm so grateful to them, what a team!”
At BSU’s Old Printworks arts hub in Radstock, participants learned a mix of design, welding, metalwork, coding and creative technology. Guided by a BSU creative technologist, along with colleagues from BSU’s Inclusive Communities Team and Little Lost Robot, they developed both practical skills and confidence to pursue future careers in the creative industries.
Talking about the positive outcomes of the project, Ruby said:
“The results are already clear: three participants have enrolled on BSU’s Further Education programmes, others have gained paid commissions and national showcase opportunities, and one is developing work for a major UK festival.”
DECOHERENCE will continue to tour nationally into 2026, beginning with a winter showcase in Radstock on 29 November.