Thanks Lisa for setting me up with a basic blog. We're using Drupal and open-source software content management system. The site is part of several research processes which intersect in different ways. Technically it's part of Lisa Haskell's research into the small-scale development of content management systems for community organisations. Conceptually it's driven by my interest in the ways in nuclear culture is investigated through the Arts and Humanities, specifically contemporary visual art. Publicly it provides a platform for annotating my research process through regular blog posts, publishing articles, and starting to collate links to the amazing range of critical enquiry in the field. I'll also be announcing film screenings and discussion events throughout the year.

The starting point for this research was an invitation by the Submarine Dismantling Project Advisory Group to curate an art project in response to the dismantlement of the old nuclear submarines in the UK. Rather than commissioning a monument, social project or trying to visually depict or document the process, I proposed to research and work with artists who would investigate the language of dismantlement, examining belief systems, ethics, cultural memes and intergenerational equity, alongside questions of materiality, entropy, and invisibility.

In the longer term this website will start to build the themes and scope of the Nuclear Culture Archive, which will be a public resource of contemporary art and cultural perspectives on all things to do with nuclear weapons, energy and waste. For although much research focuses on the isolated scientific challenges, there are also cultural, social and ethical concerns which join a thread between these issues. The aim of the site will be to collate and index information on art works, artists films, writing, and events. Potentially including special collections of new archives, as well as commissioning new content for the site.

Here's a picture of a nuclear submarine ploughing through the waves like a majestic whale in harmony with nature. Other pictures tell different stories.