[spectre] Last reminder - Nuclear: Art & Radioactivity opens tonight

[Helen Sloan]

Apologies for cross posting

Dear Colleagues and Friends

I do hope you will be able to attend the opening of our Nuclear: Art &
Radioactivity exhibition with Arts Catalyst and RSA in Spitalfields, London
tonight at 6pm. You are also welcome to attend Talkaoke in the exhibition
space tomorrow from 3 - 7pm and our one day forum at RSA on 28th November
(see details below).

SCAN and partners look forward to welcoming you at these events. Do get in
touch if you need further details.

With best wishes
Helen
Helen Sloan
Director
SCAN
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NUCLEAR: ART & RADIOACTIVITY

Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou
and Chris Oakley 
 
Private view 6pm Thu 13 November 2008
 
FREE "Talkaoke" 3-7pm Fri 14 November 2008

Nicholls & Clarke building, 3-10 Shoreditch High Street,
Spitalfields, London E1.
Private view Thu 13 November, 6pm
Open (Thursday - Sunday) 14-16, 20-23, 27-30 Nov 2008, 12 - 6.30pm

Nuclear power is re-emerging as a concern for our times.  It seems to stand
both for the failed utopian promises of modernism and a fresh hope for a
carbon-free future.  The Arts Catalyst and SCAN exhibition NUCLEAR: Art &
Radioactivity explores these contradictions through two new works by Chris
Oakley and Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou.

Last year, high court judge Jeremy Sullivan caused an apparent setback to
the government's nuclear energy ambitions by ruling that public consultation
into the creation of a new fleet of nuclear power stations was "misleading",
"seriously flawed", and "procedurally unfair." Soon after this event, Simon
Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou started a residency at the British Atomic
Nuclear Group. Hollington & Kyprianou's installation is the outcome from
this residency, with an emphasis on the work the artists did as part of the
wide-ranging public consultation process into siting a new nuclear power
facility in the heart of London. 

Chris Oakley's film 'Half-Life' looks at the histories of Harwell,
birthplace of the UK nuclear industry, and the development of fusion energy
technology at the Culham facility in Oxfordshire. An examination of nuclear
science research through a historical and cultural filter, it includes live
action material alongside archive sources and animated sections drawn from
scientific diagrams.

A 'Talkaoke' event is being hosted by The People Speak on the afternoon of
Fri 14 November, 3-7pm within the exhibition in the Nicholls & Clarke
building. Like karaoke - but with ideas and opinions in place of dodgy
songs. A live, people-led talk-show, the Talkaoke format "reclaims the art
of conversation." Come and have your say about nuclear energy. Admission is
free, you can drop in any time, and there's no need to book.

In partnership with the RSA¹s Art & Ecology programme, The Arts Catalyst and
SCAN present a forum at the RSA on Friday 28 November (10am to 6pm)
exploring the impact of nuclear power in art, culture and society. Prominent
artists, writers and experts will discuss their work and engagement with
issues around nuclear energy, from Hiroshima through the 50s¹ Œwhite heat of
technology¹ and Cold War nuclear tensions to present day energy debates.
Speakers include the chair of CND Kate Hudson, Professor of Physics at
Imperial College and member of Scientists for Global Responsibility Keith
Barham, artist Steve Kurtz of Critical Art Ensemble, and controversial
American Œnuclear sculptor¹ James Acord. The RSA, 8 John Adam Street, WC2.
Nearest tube Charing Cross/Embankment.  Admission is free, please register
at art at rsa.org.uk

NUCLEAR is commissioned and produced by The Arts Catalyst, SCAN and the
RSA¹s Arts & Ecology programme.

http//www.scansite.org