Warren Harper
Article

The Nuclear Landscapes of the Blackwater Estuary and Foulness Island: Towards a Curatorial Practice as an Interscalar Vehicle
This practice-based research project develops and employs a curatorial practice as an interscalar vehicle, to investigate Essex’s nuclear landscape—the Blackwater Estuary and Foulness Island in particular—its communities, technologies and their entanglements. Starting with the premise that contemporary art contributes to academic and public discourse in the field of nuclear culture, I will examine how the nuclear’s lingering presence may permeate the daily experiences of its co-inhabitants and transient visitors. Informed by this I will produce a project that commissions and collaborates with artists and others to explore the county’s nuclear legacy, as well as its current and future nuclear programmes. The result will be a curated programme of contemporary art and events informed by in-depth field research. A written thesis will critically contextualise the curatorial approach and projects within an interdisciplinary framework drawing from sociology, anthropology, visual art, cultural and curatorial studies, focussing on nuclear landscapes and communities.
Supervisors
- Dr Ele Carpenter
- Dr Susan Schuppli