黑料不打烊

The first nuclear tests tossed humanity into a new, nuclear era and fundamentally changed our ways of seeing perceiving the world. Nuclear technologies also became an integral part of the aesthetics of the Cold War: in the middle of the 20th century, their scale and threat shaped a hypnotic image of a majestic, peculiar, transcendental phenomenon, making science and technology perceived as omnipotent. At the beginning of the new millennium, this repertoire was supplemented by testimonies of everyday experiences and colonial exploitation; the majestic images gradually began to lose their former power. Practical concerns caused by aging technologies and radioactive waste are also becoming graver each day. Despite this, nuclear technologies continue to penetrate different areas of our everyday life, while radioactive particles scattered throughout the planet remain on its surface forever.

There are two nuclear power plants in the vicinity of Vilnius: one in Ignalina (shut down) and one in Astravas (not yet operating). The exhibition Splitting the Atom provides an insight into the different cultural contexts of these two projects and their links to the global infrastructure of the nuclear cycle - from natural resource extraction to waste. How does one build trust in these global processes depending on so many different states and ideologies? How do we distinguish garbage - production waste - from valuable historical heritage? What is the cost of a green nuclear renaissance? These and other issues are explored in the exhibition by more than twenty artists and scientists from different countries working in the field of nuclear process heritage.

The exhibition will take place at the Contemporary Art Centre and the Energy and Technology Museum in Vilnius.