Half-Life, (High Defintion video, duration 15'), 2009
EXTRACT FROM "HALF-LIFE"
High definition video
Year of Production: 2009
Duration: 15'
Artist Chris Oakley's new 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.
Produced with the cooperation of both these organisations, the film
examines nuclear science research through a historical and cultural
filter. Drawing on archive footage of the sites, alongside contemporary
materials, the work takes structural clues from nuclear physics,
exploring the heritage of nuclear energy from the roots of the
technology that drove the industrial revolution. The relationship
between nature, and our reliance on mineral energy resources, and the
portrayal of the often-mundane realities of nuclear research seek to
'normalise' the subject. With the recent widespread acceptance of the
reality of climate change driven by carbon dioxide emissions, the work
explores the realities and myths surrounding the nuclear sciences.
Commissioned by the Arts Catalyst and SCAN.