One of the earliest practical applications of quantum technologies, quantum sensing is already used today to measure phenomena such as time, gravity and magnetic fields with unprecedented precision.

We are living in a time of rapid technological change, with quantum systems beginning to move from the lab into wider use. Collectively sensing, or observing, this shift can encourage us to engage and consider how we might contribute to shaping the path these technologies take.

The title highlights artists’ ability to shape encounters with complex technologies, enabling audiences to sense and experience abstract systems while prompting reflection on their societal or even emotional dimensions.

Working at the intersection of art, science and emerging technologies, collaboration is central to every LAS programme. To develop interdisciplinary projects across emerging research areas, we bring together leading thinkers and practitioners whose insights into ongoing developments enrich and guide our initiatives.

Across the two large-scale commissions and the Sensing Quantum symposium, we collaborated with researchers and experts who are actively shaping the field of quantum today. We are grateful for the meaningful conversations and contributions from institutions such as Google Quantum AI, Forschungszentrum Jülich, ETH Zürich, Pasqal and the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, Berlin, Paris and Naples.

Learning together is key to engaging with emerging technologies in meaningful and accessible ways. Throughout the Sensing Quantum programme, we provide a range of learning formats for different audiences, from impulse conversations with researchers introducing quantum ideas, to workshops for families and sensory, low-barrier activities. Across both artistic commissions, we collaborated with Tactical Tech to develop interdisciplinary learning materials for high school students, providing introductions to emerging quantum technologies and creating space for young people to reflect critically on their technological futures.

A selection of these materials can be found in the Resource section below.

As an institution supporting artistic practices in the technological age, research and development (R&D), understood as the exploration, testing and prototyping of ideas, plays a fundamental role in our work. We believe that artists can be drivers of change and agents of innovation, with R&D projects serving as vital incubators.

In the context of emerging quantum technologies, R&D demonstrates that quantum systems provide fundamentally new aesthetic and conceptual tools, demanding novel methods, languages and approaches in artistic practice. Their technical complexity and limited accessibility make hands-on engagement, translation and collaboration essential for artists to move beyond metaphor. As the field develops, artistic inquiry can help interpret complex concepts, foster critical discourse and broaden the ways these technologies are imagined and experienced.

Why Technology Needs Artists: 40 International Perspectives (2025) is a British Council publication featuring 40 statements from 56 global leaders in art, technology and culture. It argues that artists play a vital role in shaping the development, social relevance and cultural grounding of emerging technologies. You can read our contribution from page 32 [here].

In this section, you can explore videos from different parts of our programme – from in-depth conversations with collaborators shown in our Learning Spaces, to impulses captured during Laure Prouvost’s WE FELT A STAR DYING, and recordings from the conversation series The Radical Outside: Conversations on Liminals, part of Pierre Huyghe’s commission at Halle am Berghain.