POWER IN THE LAND / PŴER YN Y TIR
Bay Art, Cardiff
Sat 18 Feb – Sat 18 Mar
Our choice of energy speaks volumes about us. Over a year after the closure of the final nuclear power station in Wales, a dialogue is finally being formed about the history of nuclear energy in Britain. Nuclear energy has flourished in parts of Europe, but has slowly decayed in Britain. Nuclear energy, perhaps, has more to say about our culture beyond the empty silos that once littered the Welsh countryside.
Power in the Land presents a collage of video, sound, performance and photographic forms by 10 artists. Their collaborations have allowed them to explore the cultural undertones of energy – principally power stations – on communities. Wales, with the scars of coal and slate mining still apparent on the soil and people of its former industrial areas, cradles the exhibition in sympathetic hands.
Why has nuclear energy been abandoned in Wales? Do lands, perhaps, express their own desire for a certain type of power beyond geography? Power in the Land doesn’t attempt to answer these complicated questions, but instead diverts our attention to the cultural undertones of our energy choices. There is more to the history of nuclear energy in Wales than its dialogue with nature, and Power in the Land implies a meaningful materiality can be formed out of our energy choices.
The remnants of nuclear power have left their own material culture on our landscape, but what Power in the Land is principally concerned with is the impact of industry upon our cultural and linguistic ecosystems. Power in the Land is a varied demonstration of what energy means to us and how it can be so polarisingly translated by different people.
Admission: free. Info: 029 2065 0016 / www.bayart.org.uk