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ABSTRACT
This article examines public representations of the nuclear in Lithuania following the shutdown of the Soviet-designed Ignalina nuclear power plant. The central focus of the article is the analysis of artistic practices that, since the early 2000s, interpret and transform the materiality of the plant from a nuclear object to a cultural phenomenon. The author argues that while the decommissioning process of the only Lithuanian nuclear power plant occupies a rather marginal place in the popular consciousness, art becomes an increasingly important medium for the construction of nuclear imaginaries attracting public attention and raising awareness of nuclear industry issues.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the artists for their kind permission to reproduce their work. I’m also grateful to Andrei Stsiapanau, Oksana Denisenko and two anonymous peer-reviewers for their generous comments on the earlier version of the article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The series prompted nuclear tourism in Lithuania, attracting tourists not only to Ignalina, but also to the capital Vilnius, which was used to portray Pripyat in the series.
2. Therefore, in this article I will not only speak about the Ignalina NPP, but also about Ignalina as a cultural representation of the nuclear industry in Lithuania.
3. The term ‘nuclear aesthetics’ is used by Ele Carpenter in her book The nuclear culture source book (Citation2016). Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou and Ruby de Vos (Citation2018) attempt to define it critically in their introduction to the special issue of the journal Kunstlicht dedicated to nuclear aesthetics.
4. Andrei Stsiapanau (Citation2018, 9) notes that ‘the Lithuanian authorities until now, after the Ignalina NPP shutdown and the negative result in the referendum concerning the construction of a new NPP, are postponing the final decision about a nuclear power program in the country and are not daring to put an end to the nuclear story in Lithuania.’
5. Such is the painting by Adolis Krištopaitis In the Construction of the Ignalina Power Plant (1980, courtesy of the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art, Kaunas), in which the massive building of the plant depicted in the constructivist style completely obscures the landscape. Vasily Chupachenko (1923–2005) was the main photographer to document the construction and early life of the Ignalina NPP and its satellite city. His slides are stored in the Visaginas Culture House, some of them may be found on the Facebook page Visagino vaizdų archyvas (Visaginas Visual Archive).
6. A series of ex-libris created for the Sniečkus library by a famous Soviet Lithuanian graphic artist are stored in the Visaginas Public Library.
7. The representations of the nuclear in Soviet Lithuanian culture and art require further and deeper research that falls beyond the scope of this article.
8. The new town was named after Antanas Sniečkus, then first secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party, and was renamed Visaginas in 1992 after the nearby lake. In contrast to neighboring Latvia and Estonia, Russian immigration to Soviet Lithuania where Lithuanians constituted about 80% of the population was minimal.
9. The 25th festival in 2018 was advertised as an event that allegedly originally contributed to the change of the city’s name from Sniečkus to Visaginas as the festival coincided with the overthrow of the pro-Soviet government in the city (interview with Čekienė Citation2018).
10. The vivid art scene of Visaginas, which is aimed at the local audience, is not discussed in this article focusing on art that is widely distributed and may influence public representations of the nuclear on the national and international scale. The photography series Babochka by Laurie Griffiths and Jonty Tacon was exhibited in the Lithuanian Photographers’ Association gallery (2018); the documentary film The City of Butterfly (directed by Olga Černovaitė, 2017) was screened in the international film festival ‘Scanorama;’ the theater performance The Green Meadow (2017) was produced by the Lithuanian National Drama Theater; art works by Kristina Inčiūraitė, Ignas Krunglevičus, Siri Harr Steinvik, Emilija Škarnulytė, Augustas Serapinas, Lisi Raskin, Thomson, and Craighead, and others were shown in various exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Center, Energy and Technology Museum, and the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, to name a few examples of distribution on a national scale. Among others; the presentation of the installation Title One: The Tasks of the Community by Rossella Biscotti at the ‘Manifesta’ (the European Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2012); the photo series Ground by Jonathan Lovekin and David Grandorge at the Baltic Pavilion in Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016; the installation Vygintas, Kirilas & Semionovas by Augustas Serapinas at the Venice Art Biennale in 2018; and the photo series Post-Nuclear Identity by Neringa Rekašiūtė at the Narva arts residence (Estonia, 2018) and ‘Photaumnales’ festival in France might be mentioned.
11. In the following text, nationality will be indicated only next to the names of foreign artists.
12. The older generation did not accept the artists’ invitation to join the preparatory workshops during field research for the performance (interview with Tertelis, Citation2018).
13. This idea might be confirmed by a specific source of visual culture: tombstone decoration in cemeteries. Walking around the Visaginas cemetery, it is easy to notice that several tombstones are decorated with the symbol of an atom (which is sometimes put in a curious juxtaposition with a Christian cross) regardless of whether they are the graves of nuclear power plant workers or other city residents such as sports coaches.
14. As one of the performers of The Green Meadow recalls: ‘When the first block was stopped, on the last day of 2004, many Visaginas residents were in shock. […] others might have been able to continue working on the decommissioning, but they couldn’t destroy what they built with their own hands.’ Quote from the unpublished play The Green Meadow, courtesy of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater, Vilnius.
15. The project’s website: https://www.griffithstacon.com/babochka-a-european-power-struggle
16. Rekašiūtė, while living in Visaginas for three and a half years, actively acted as a ‘city ambassador’ in Lithuanian and foreign media. See, for example, Rekašiūtė (Citation2019).
17. The photographs can be viewed here: https://deepbaltic.com/2017/05/23/ground-haunting-photos-industry-baltic-winter/
18. Hecht (Citation2012, 338) argues that ‘the power of nuclear things depends on both exceptionalism and banality.’
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Linara Dovydaitytė
Linara Dovydaitytė is an associate professor at Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Art History and Criticism. Her research interests include Soviet art and heritage, visual culture, and museum studies with a focus on memory politics, community involvement, and public communication.