Grand Prize – Innovative Collaboration
LAS Art Foundationʼs Sensing Quantum is a long-term artistic research initiative that explores the intersections of quantum science, technology, philosophy, and contemporary art. One century after the emergence of quantum physics—and in a moment when its applications are predicted to have profound effects on many sectors—the program fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, aiming to translate complex quantum principles into immersive and thought-provoking experiences.
las-art.foundation/explore/sensing-quantum
Sensing Quantum brings together artists, scientists, and thinkers to create critical and artistic languages around the evolving field of quantum computing, highlighting the importance of creative experimentation with emerging technologies. Through new commissions with artists and musicians, a symposium, a publication, and an ongoing educational program, Sensing Quantum explores how art can bridge the gaps between the invisible, the speculative, and the evolving role of quantum technologies in our lives.
The initiativeʼs first iteration takes shape in Laure Prouvostʼs multi-sensory installation WE FELT A STAR DYING, presented at Kraftwerk Berlin from 21 February through 4 May, 2025. For this commission, the artist plunged into the counterintuitive logic of quantum physics, and the technologies emerging from it. She asked: “what might it feel like to sense reality from a quantum perspective?” Prouvost worked with philosopher Tobias Rees and scientist Hartmut Neven to explore quantum computing and its links to the universe.
The project’s title, WE FELT A STAR DYING, highlights quantum computers’ sensitivity to factors like heat, vibration, and cosmic radiation. Drawing together video, sound, sculpture, scent, and light, the installation unfolds as a fluid entity tuned to the sensitive and unpredictable characteristics of quantum systems. Lyrical and surreal, it weaves direct experimentation with a quantum computer into a wider reflection on what it means to open oneself to the quantum realm. Co-commissioned by OGR Torino, the installation is presented at their venue from autumn 2025.
WE FELT A STAR DYING is accompanied by two key platforms for exploration and engagement. The learning space titled Entangled Currents invites discovery through a broad range of materials, including interviews with Sensing Quantum collaborators, readings, and games. It hosts a six-part discursive program featuring voices from across quantum disciplines, such as Prof. Dr. Tommaso Calarco, Dr. James Wootton, and Günseli Yalcinkaya. Alongside the talks, Entangled Currents offers workshops for all ages, including a specially-designed program for high schools.
The Sound Lab is an ongoing initiative dedicated to deep listening and sonic exploration, inviting sound artists and composers to engage with tools and concepts emerging from the field of quantum technologies. From 21 February through 4 May 2025, it featured original compositions by Kara-Lis Coverdale, Marco Donnarumma, and Aïsha Devi.
In autumn 2025, the Sensing Quantum symposium in Berlin will explore creative thinking around the possibilities of quantum technologies, featuring artists Wayne McGregor and Libby Heaney, philosopher Tobias Rees, and scientists Tommaso Calarco and Hartmut Neven. A subsequent publication will distil and expand upon the gathered insights, providing a vital resource for understanding the artistic and societal implications of quantum technologies.
In 2026, LAS will present a second large-scale art commission in Berlin as part of the Sensing Quantum initiative.
Art in the Quantum Age
The LAS Art Foundation’s Sensing Quantum project has been awarded the S+T+ARTS Grand Prize – Innovative Collaboration for its groundbreaking work in developing new pathways into quantum technology through immersive experiences and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Video: Laure Prouvost, WE FELT A STAR DYING 2025. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation and co-commissioned by OGR Torino. © 2025 Laure Prouvost. Video: Julian Wildner
Credits
Commissioner: LAS Art Foundation
Partners:
Research Partner: QuantumLeaks Foundation / Max Planck Foundation,
Scientific Consultant: Jülich Forschungszentrum
Lead Partner Education: Volkswagen Group
Co-Commissioner of Laure Prouvostʼs WE FELT A STAR DYING and the Sensing Quantum publication: OGR Torino
Sensing Quantum is presented as part of 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ).
Biography
LAS Art Foundation (DE) looks deep into the present and gives form to future imaginaries. Working with artists, thinkers, and institutions worldwide, the foundation catalyzes ideas and brings forward innovative projects and experiences. Key research areas include artificial intelligence, quantum computing, ecology, and biotechnology—highlighting the intersections between art, science, and emerging technologies. The foundation’s program spans installations, and performances, as well as educational initiatives, publications, and research projects. Since its founding in 2019, LAS has realized over 30 installations and projects with artists such as Refik Anadol, Libby Heaney, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Robert Irwin, Josèfa Ntjam, Ian Cheng, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, and Lawrence Lek. Guided by curiosity, LAS continually reimagines the role of an arts institution as one that shapes and evolves with collective futures.
Jury Statement
As Europe steps up investments in quantum technologies, from the Quantum Flagship and EuroHPC to key industrial initiatives in chips and cloud computing, Sensing Quantum reminds us of something essential: technological sovereignty is not just about hardware, speed, or scale. It’s also about how we imagine and shape the future together.
Curated by the LAS Art Foundation, Sensing Quantum opens up the complex world of quantum science to society at large. It is a powerful example of how art and culture can make emerging technologies more transparent, more democratic, and more human. While Europe builds the physical and digital infrastructure of the future—AI factories, quantum labs, supercomputers—this program offers a vital addition. It transforms critical technologies, and abstract concepts into stories, complex systems into emotions, and scientific infrastructure into shared experience.
At the heart of this program is We Felt a Star Dying, a poetic video installation by Laure Prouvost. Created in dialogue with quantum physicists and AI systems trained on quantum data, the work translates the death of a star into a powerful meditation on fragility, impermanence, and our deep interconnections. It shows that quantum ideas, like uncertainty, entanglement, and superposition, are not just scientific theories, but metaphors that help us understand today’s global, digital, and ecological challenges.
In a time of mega-infrastructures—from data centres to quantum sensing networks—Europe must ensure that these systems serve the public good, are ethically grounded, and open to democratic participation. Sensing Quantum makes this vision tangible. It invites artists, scientists, and citizens to explore new ways of thinking about our technological future, not as passive users, but as active co-creators.
The jury celebrates Sensing Quantum as a bold model of cultural-scientific collaboration. It reflects a Europe that leads in innovation, while staying rooted in democratic values and planetary care. This program ensures that public understanding and aesthetic experimentation evolve in tandem. It is not enough to sense the quantum, we must also sense the political, emotional, and planetary implications of what we are building. This work allows us to do both.