Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Sweden: 2 Oct 2016 - 16 April 2017
An exhibition of contemporary art in the nuclear Anthropocene exploring the complexity of knowledge and the deep time of radiation. The exhibition brings together twenty-five international artists from across Europe, the USA and Japan, investigating nuclear aesthetics through the material sensing of nuclear sites and experiences.
Perpetual Uncertainty refers to the instability of knowledge, not-knowing, risk perception and deep time. The exhibition focuses on contemporary experiences of radiation, nuclear aesthetics and future archives. Artworks investigate the aesthetics of nuclear dismantling with new perspectives on nuclear culture and archives in a post-digital age. New commissions investigate the Swedish nuclear context and the complexity of intergenerational memory through belief systems, folklore and site markers. The exhibition will contribute to the discourse of the Nuclear Anthropocene, where the impact of human activity is evidenced in fallout from atomic testing and nuclear accidents, and the insertion of radioactive waste into the fossil record.
The exhibition is accompanied by The Nuclear Culture Source Book, edited by Ele Carpenter, and published by Black Dog Publishing in partnership with Bildmuseet and Arts Catalyst, London.
Artists: James Acord, Shuji Akagi, Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway, Erich Berger and Mari Keto, Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson, Don’t Follow the Wind, Finger Pointing Worker, Dave Griffiths, Isao Hashimoto, Erika Kobayashi, David Mabb, Cécile Massart, Eva and Franco Mattes, Yelena Popova, Susan Schuppli, Shimpei Takeda, Kota Takeuchi, Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead, Suzanne Treister, Andy Weir, Robert Williams and Bryan McGovern Wilson, Ken + Julia Yonetani.
Roundtable: Art & Deep Time Radiation, Bildmuseet, 19 November, 2016
http://nuclear.artscatalyst.org/content/perpetual-uncertainty-roundtable
The exhibition will tour to:
Z33, Hasselt, Belgium, 16 Sept - 10 Dec 2017
Malmo Konstmuseum, 24 Feb - 26 August 2018
Reviews:
Radioactive Art, BBC Radio4, Produced by Beatrice Pickup, 11.30am 2 March 2017. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08g7tv3
Elisabeth Eaves, Art of the Nuclear Anthropocene, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 2016 http://thebulletin.org/multimedia/art-nuclear-anthropocene
Jamie Sutcliffe, Review of The Nuclear Culture Source Book, Art Monthly, March 2017.
Sadie Rebecca Starnes, The End of the Word as We Know It, Hyperallergic, 2017
Regine Debatty, Inheritance, We-Make-Money-Not-Art, 2017 http://we-make-money-not-art.com/inheritance-a-precious-heirloom-made-of...
Jacob Lilimose, Into the Invisible Depths of Radioactive Futures' KunstKritikk, 2016 http://www.kunstkritikk.com/kritikk/into-the-invisible-depths-of-radioac...
David Mabb, A Provisional Memorial to Nuclear Disarmament, In: The Journal of William Morris Studies, Vol XXXII, No.1, 2017. p42-53
David Mabb, William Morris and the atomic: Ingenta Connect in the Journal of Contemporary Painting, Volume 3, Numbers 1-2, 1 April 2017, pp. 22-53(32)
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/jcp/2017/00000003/F00...
David Mabb, Protest and Survive, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 2016 http://thebulletin.org/protest-and-survive-reclaiming-william-morris-bri...
Yale University Radio Interview with Ele Carpenter by Brainard Carey, November, 2016
Cornelius Holtorf, Towards Nuclear Cultural Studies https://heritage-futures.org/towards-nuclear-cultural-studies-2/
Johans, Sebastian, ”Strålningen som hotar allt levande” in Dagens Nyheter, 2 March 2017, Culture Section, pages 8-9 http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/konstrecensioner/perpetual-uncertainty-pa-b...
Anna Volmar, Why We Need Nuclear Art, Leiden Arts Society Blog, 15 Dec, 2016. http://www.leidenartsinsocietyblog.nl/articles/why-we-need-nuclear-art
Andy Weir. Deep Decay – Into Diachronic Polychromatic Material Fictions, Parse Journal, Platform for Artistic Research in Sweden. Issue #4 Times in November 2016. http://www.parsejournal.com/article/deep-decay-into-diachronic-polychrom...