Kuannersuit / Kvanefjeldet installation

Kuannersuit / Kvanefjeldet is a film installation commissioned for Perceptual Uncertainty / Contemporary Art in the Nuclear Anthropocene at Bildmuseet in Sweden (2/10/2016 - 16/4/2017), an international exhibition curated by Ele Carpenter, investigating nuclear technology, radiation and the complex relationship between knowledge and deep time. The film Kuannersuit / Kvanefjeldet (27 min) portrays a Greenland divided on the issue of uranium mining at Kvanefjeld, site of the richest rare earth mineral resources in the world and one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium. But plans for big investments from foreign mining companies do not sit easily with the pristine nature and traditional ways of living from the land and the sea. The project examines the difficult decisions and tradeoffs faced by an indigenous culture seeking to escape a colonial past and define its own identity in a globalised world. The project builds on research undertaken the Nuclear Culture Research Programme, an AHRC funded cultural investigation which has brought together nuclear scientists, engineers, community activists, artists and ethicists, involving presentations for InSOTEC Berlin Stakeholder Conference on International Socio-Technical Challenges for Implementing Geological Disposal (2013) and the Nuclear Culture Symposium (Arts Catalyst, London 2013). Kuannersuit / Kvanefjeldet was funded by NAKFI (US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine), British Council / Art Council International Artist Development Grant, Danish Art Council and Sheffield Hallam University. The project was supported by The House of Greenland, Danish Decommissioning and Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINS) The exhibition was accompanied by a public presentation: The Price They are Willing to Pay - The Ongoing Battle Over Uranium Mining in Greenland and the The Nuclear Culture Source Book, edited by Ele Carpenter and published by Black Dog Publishing, 2016. Kuannersuit / Kvanefjeldet will also be featured at The Arts Catalyst Gallery in London, in March 2017.