Sun Under Ground

Archaeological excavation of the many layers of narratives surrounding uranium, with threads back to the Soviet Union and nuclear weapons programmes.

The white, radioactive metal uranium radiates like a sun in the darkness under ground while the planet Uranus travels across the sky. From 1946 to 1990, the Soviet company SAG Wismut operated mining operations in Germany. The company dug for uranium, which was used in the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons programme. But how does the mining of the past haunt the landscape today? And how is it all connected to the spectre of socialism? Examining the earth as if it were a vast archive, the aesthetically accomplished ‘Sun Under Ground’ takes us on a contemporary speleological journey. A journey where the sedimented narratives surrounding uranium materially, metaphorically and geopolitically are unearthed and re-examined along the way.