Nuclear Culture

The nose of a UK Astute class nuclear submarine rolls through the streets of Barrow-In-Furness. Image from BBC Technology.

A curatorial research project led by Ele Carpenter, in partnership with the Arts Catalyst and Goldsmiths College, University of London. Supported through an AHRC early career research fellowship.

Nuclear Culture is curatorial exploration of the conceptual and cultural challenges of dismantling nuclear submarines in the UK. The problem of dismantling is a current political issue and high-risk environmental challenge. From a military perspective the issue is viewed as a technical problem that can be resolved by engineering and technology.

Inviting artists to consider the aesthetic, conceptual, ethical and cultural concerns of nuclear submarines in conjunction with experts in the field, the research will investigate complex issues of power, visibility, and political representation, as well as having a keen material and conceptual interest in the socio-political history, and conceptual nature of nuclear weapons. The project aims to bring together scientists, engineers and community activists with artists and ethicists to develop new opportunities for creative practice investigating nuclear culture. Whilst there is much research into nuclear technologies, there is little analysis of the cultural and conceptual questions of nuclear materials within the language of visual art.

The Nuclear Culture website is currently in progress. The site will publish ongoing research articles, interviews and information about the Nuclear Culture research project including events such as the Nuclear Symposium and Film Programme in April.   http://nuclear.artscatalyst.org/

Both talks are open to the public and everyone is welcome.What nuclear culture in 21st Century? Can artists broaden the language of nuclear discourse? How are artists engaging with nuclear questions and concepts? Should art play a role in communicating radioactive sites for the future? How do we perceive risk? What kind of dialogue do we need to take place?  What kind of legacy do we want to leave for the future? What kind of nuclear folklores will emerge?

Ele Carpenter is researching these questions to create a context for commissioning artists and curating exhibitions to reveal how nuclear knowledge and experience changes the way in which we see and understand the world. Internationally, artists are making work in direct response to nuclear weapons, power and waste. Their practices contribute to a conceptual enquiry into the characteristics of radioactive materials across time, including aesthetic, material and social-political concerns.

The term ‘Nuclear Culture’ can be used to identify the way in which nuclear concerns are explored in cultural forms, ie art, music, film. But it can also be used to think about the nuclear industry in terms of cultural behavior; this includes decision-making structures, and the way in which society accepts or resists nuclear energy, weapons, waste storage and the variability of perceived risk. Through cultural and aesthetic analysis we can use theoretical frameworks to understand and articulate our contemporary experience of the nuclear, and to develop new forms of nuclear critique.

Nuclear Culture in Japan: An Introduction to the research residency with S-AIR.
Field Note 1: Sapporo: Art and Nuclear Culture from the perspective of Sapporo.
Transforming the Water Cycle: Review of Niwa Yoshinori's artwork at the 500m Gallery.

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