Image de couverture
Séminaire
Séminaire général
Nous aurons le plaisir d'accueillir Alex Wellerstein (professeur associé au Stevens Institute of Technology).
Titre : "How to draw an atomic bomb: Secrecy and aesthetics in diagrammatic representations of nuclear weapons"
Titre : "How to draw an atomic bomb: Secrecy and aesthetics in diagrammatic representations of nuclear weapons"
Résumé :
The physical and political power of nuclear weapons created two contradictory movements surrounding them: intense secrecy and intense public interest in their “secrets.” Very soon after the destruction of Hiroshima, there emerged practices of attempting to depict “the secret” of the atomic bomb in visual media, in the form of functional arrangements of materials like uranium, high explosives, and so on. This talk looks at the history of diagrammatic representations of the workings of nuclear weapons, from Hiroshima to Wikipedia, and how these practices reflect the complicated historical–epistemological relationship of nuclear knowledge in the public sphere.
In particular, it will look at: who draws the bomb; how, why and when they draw it; how the visual styles and aesthetics of these drawings reflect complex claims to power; and what relationship the content of these drawings has to the dynamics of official secrecy, unofficial speculation, and the phenomena of leaks and declassification.
The physical and political power of nuclear weapons created two contradictory movements surrounding them: intense secrecy and intense public interest in their “secrets.” Very soon after the destruction of Hiroshima, there emerged practices of attempting to depict “the secret” of the atomic bomb in visual media, in the form of functional arrangements of materials like uranium, high explosives, and so on. This talk looks at the history of diagrammatic representations of the workings of nuclear weapons, from Hiroshima to Wikipedia, and how these practices reflect the complicated historical–epistemological relationship of nuclear knowledge in the public sphere.
In particular, it will look at: who draws the bomb; how, why and when they draw it; how the visual styles and aesthetics of these drawings reflect complex claims to power; and what relationship the content of these drawings has to the dynamics of official secrecy, unofficial speculation, and the phenomena of leaks and declassification.