Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi ushers a new era at the foundation, supporting CERN’s new center for education with the opening of the Back to the Big Bang.
It all started with the Big Bang. Like the serendipitous forces that came together to form the early beginnings of the universe—so did the collaboration between the Carla Fendi Foundation and CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research). This unlikely, yet kismet collaboration sees two always-evolving organizations coming together for a greater, common goal.
This past weekend, the Carla Fendi Foundation convened in Geneva, Switzerland, to celebrate the inauguration of CERN’s Science Gateway, a new groundbreaking hub for science education and outreach. The Carla Fendi Foundation, which was founded in 2007 by Carla Fendi herself, was created with the aim of promoting creativity and preserving art and culture. Today, Carla’s niece, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi oversees the foundation as President. And since she became President in 2017, Maria Teresa has greatly kept the foundation’s promise, while also enlarging its scope to include science, which she sees as another important “creative and interpretive intuition.”
“I know it may sound strange that a foundation with a great history in Italian fashion gets involved with science, but from my point of view, this connection is quite simple.”
“I know it may sound strange that a foundation with a great history in Italian fashion gets involved with science, but from my point of view, this connection is quite simple,” explains Maria Teresa. “Creativity and Science have so much in common: the habit to pass from abstract thinking to reality, the urge to always try new ends, the taste for discovery, and, why not, the sense of beauty. After all, as you don’t have to be an artist to feel the sense of beauty in art, I think you don’t have to be a scientist to feel the sense of beauty in science.”
The foundation’s involvement with CERN first kicked off in 2018, when Maria Teresa first met Fabiola Gianotti, the Director General of CERN. At the time, Maria Teresa was awarding Fabiola and Nobel Prize winners, Peter Higgs and Francois Englert, the Carla Fendi STEM Award for their discovery of the Higgs boson, commonly known as the “God particle.”
“In those days, I went to Geneva several times, and I learned of her desire to create a sort of scientific hub for education and outreach. The [Science Gateway] project was still on paper, but she described it to me with such enthusiasm that I immediately wanted to involve the foundation in it,” Maria Teresa explains to Mission Magazine.
Fast forward to the present day, and this almost five-year collaboration has finally come to fruition. Joined by her family—Anna and Paola Fendi—Maria Teresa christened the opening of the new Science Gateway and the Back to the Big Bang pavilion, an exhibition space which they supported the making of specifically. Covering over 2,000 square feet, the extensive exhibition takes visitors through the different epochs and transformations of the universe. Complete with interactive displays and easy-to-use telescopes, the space allows for hands-on learning and the possibility to conduct experiments.
“The idea is that before being confronted by the rationality of science, people must feel a sense of wonder and joy in front of things so hard to understand, yet so overwhelmingly beautiful.”
“I chose to support this specific pavilion because I think the Universe is the mystery of all mysteries,” Maria Teresa shares. “At the same time, I thought this would be a space of immediate and spectacular impact to which all, even very young people like five-year-old children, can be emotionally attracted. The idea is that before being confronted by the rationality of science, people must feel a sense of wonder and joy in front of things so hard to understand, yet so overwhelmingly beautiful.”
On Saturday, the inauguration ceremony for the new center began with an address by Fabiola, in which she stressed the value of education and outreach to the public. “Sharing CERN’s research and the beauty and utility of science with the public has always been a key objective and activity of CERN. For me, personally, Science Gateway is a dream that has become a reality, and I am deeply grateful to all the people who have contributed, starting with our generous donors.”
CERN is probably most well known for its Large Hadron Collider—the world’s largest particle accelerator—which was instrumental in proving the Higgs’ theory in 2012, solving the mystery of how particles get their mass. And with the addition of this year’s new Back to the Big Bang exhibition as well as the four other exhibition spaces, the Science Gateway will continue its legacy of paving the way for scientific innovations in the current century. Fabiola also shared in her speech that the Science Gateway will not only act as a physical space for learning, but also foster a dialogue between the current and next generation of scientists, offering physics experiments for children from primary school to high school, interactive and immersive tours, and exploration of the main technologies developed at CERN.
Aside from the opening of the Back to the Big Bang—this year, the foundation also commemorates its 15th anniversary. And as the foundation celebrates its Crystal Jubilee, Maria Teresa hopes she and the team will continue on their mission with the same headfast commitment to creativity, art, and science for decades to come.
“Carla Fendi was a great supporter of art and creativity, and the foundation she created back in 2007 was the instrument through which, as a modern patron, she could devote to the promotion of all forms of culture. The foundation’s mission is to work for the promotion of art, culture, and science with a special focus on young generations and women,” Maria Teresa explains. “I hope this will be our legacy.”
All images courtesy of Fendi Foundation. The Science Gateway will be open six days a week (Tuesday-Sunday) and is free to enter. To visit the Back to the Big Bang or to access other CERN offerings, click here.
