Are science exhibitions for everyone? Accessibility aspects of the CERN Science Gateway exhibitions

Abstract

CERN's new flagship education and outreach centre, Science Gateway, opened its doors to the public in autumn 2023. Through a combination of immersive scenography with interactive exhibits and real scientific objects, its permanent exhibitions address the organisation's particle physics research and how this knowledge applies to other scientific fields and the visitor's everyday life. While in Discover CERN visitors learn about the accelerator and detector technologies at CERN, Our Universe covers the evolution of the Universe and the role that fundamental physics plays in it, as well as open questions in modern physics. Their underlying basic quantum mechanical principles can eventually be explored in Quantum World. Firstly, we will give a short overview of the exhibitions' highlights. Next, we delve into how various aspects of accessibility were incorporated into the exhibition development process to target the broadest audience possible and to inspire the next generation of scientists. We give an account on how this topic was approached and how inclusive exhibits and infrastructure were realised. By combining long-term visitor statistics and preliminary results of a recent visitor survey, we obtain insights about the actual audience and the visitors' perceived accessibility of the exhibitions with respect to their educational backgrounds.