Nucle-R - large scale permanent installation and films

* Signifies portfolio evidence

In the statement to Output 1, I outlined the nature and mode of my practice. This approach I have called the Plastic Approach (Approche Plastique)*, which comes from the practice of handling matter in space over time (sculpture) and presents itself as a specific way of seeing the world and the physical, economical, and social processes that shape it.

In Nucle-R, the Plastic Approach is applied to the context of nuclear waste and its management in Europe. It explored the way in which an artist can operate in a non-art context and showed how the Plastic Approach can be applied successfully to an out of the ordinary scientific/industrial context. This was the first time the CEA* had ever worked with an artist on such a sensitive issue as nuclear waste. Nucle-R is a landmark project in my ongoing research on a Plastic Approach to transformation processes in the world.

The project started in 2001 with one-year residency at the CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique)*, resulting in a 96-page internal research report and proposals for a Plastic Approach to Nuclear Waste. I was then asked to work for two years (2003-2005) as adviser* associated to the team of scientists in charge of the creation of the Visiatome (http://www.visiatome.fr/)*, and then as Lead Artist on this new public venue dedicated to nuclear waste (CEA Marcoule, France - funded by the FEDER – EUROPE). This collaboration with CEA resulted in the commissioning of a large-scale permanent installation at the Visiatome, comprising over 20 tones of declassified nuclear waste, 200 images and 5 films. The films have since been presented independently in other contemporary art venues*.

An exhibition and publication bringing this research material together - over 2000 photographs, texts, films, objects - is being organized with a contemporary art institution*.