Artists and activists debate nuclear energy in the 21st century

In partnership with The Arts Catalyst and SCAN, Arts & Ecology held a forum at the RSA on Friday 28 November 2008 (10am to 6pm) exploring the impact of nuclear power in art and culture. Nuclear power is re-emerging as a a major modern issue, both in terms of generation of energy, and as part of defence strategies. Today it seems to stand both for the failed utopian promises of modernism and a fresh hope for a carbon-free future. The contradictions that lie at its core have provided a rich source of questioning for artists, scientists, ecologists and activists for many years.

Illustration: still from Half Life by Chris Oakley, from Nuclear: art and radioactivity


Prominent artists, writers and experts discussed their work and engagement with the issues around nuclear energy, from Hiroshima through the 50s, "white heat of technology" and the Cold War nuclear tensions to present day energy debates. Speakers included:

• Controversial American "nuclear sculptor" James Acord, whose work caused huge public and media attention as the highlight of the Arts Catalyst’s ATOMIC exhibition in London
  

  James Acord's t-shirt, from the ATOMIC exhibition, 1998.

  ten years ago. Acord spoke movingly about his failure to engage the American nuclear industry in helping create his work, and about what their lack of engagement with art tells us about the nature of the nuclear establishment. 

• Via Skype link from Australia, Steve Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble. Professor of Art at the Univeristy at Buffalo, NY, Kurtz received national attention when he was arrested under the Patriot Act in 2004 following the tragic death of his wife of natural causes. Kurtz spoke about his research into how - during the Bush era - the nuclear issue became muddied by the administration conflating ideas of radioactivity with terrorism, notably during the Jose Padilla "dirty bomb" case.
• CND Chair Kate Hudson spoke about the history of the anti-nuclear movement.
  
• Artists Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou created a presentation about the British nuclear industry's use of the PR industry to engage with the public, while Chris Oakley talked through the making of his film Half Life.
• Dr Paul Dorfman of Warwick University talked about the relationship between legislation and nuclear risk, especially about the recent criticised 2007 consultation on the future of nuclear energy, characterising it as a flawed piece of work designed only to get the results it was looking for. 
• Particle physicist Keith Barnham of Imperial College discussed energy first on cosmic terms, then described the arc of energy use during the brief moment of human history, before discussing his role developing next-generation commercial PV panels.
• Finally, artist Gustav Metzger, whose "auto-destructive art" included work protesting against nuclear weapons, delivered a deeply poetic plea about how humanity's need to test the limits of its own self were leading to self-destruction.