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A Call to Artists
How do you create a warning system to prevent an accidental unearthing of 200 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste? A simple sign, some chain link and a military post, might work today. But what about 10,000 years from now? In 2002 the U.S. Department of Energy brought together engineers, archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists and asked them this question. What type of warning system can be put in place so people, 370 generations from now, won’t open the glowing door? |
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What they came up with is hardly inspiring: a large earthen mound with a salt core and two identical Dr. Strangelove-esque control rooms with a warning message written in the six official languages of the U.N. and Navajo. Construction of this Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is scheduled to begin in less than three years. What if an artist designed the system? |
Spike Field, view 1 (concept and art by Michael Brill). |
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Spikes Bursting Through Grid, view 1 |
Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art is asking artists, architects, cartoonists, computer engineers, graphic designers, scientists—and anyone else up for the challenge— just that question. Design a warning sign or create a work, a system, that speaks to the nuclear gravesite issue. Graphic novelists might translate the project and solution into story panels. Architects may offer a blueprint for the facility itself. The artistic focus may be as narrow as an image on a sign, or as broad as a full-scale vision of the future. The Journal is encouraging maximum interpretation and creativity. |
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Eight works will be selected for print publication in Issue 48 of the Journal (spring 2010), with additional, select submissions posted on the Journal website, columbiajournal.org. Submissions can be created in any format/media, so long as they can be reproduced on the print page. The only limits are size: please make sure that your canvas measures 6" x 9" (horizontal x vertical) or 12" x 18" (horizontal x vertical). Submissions that exceed these specifications must be able to size down, legibly, or they will not be considered. |
Landscape of Thorns (concept by Michael Brill and art by Safdar Abidi). |
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The deadline for submission is November 15, 2009. Please email submissions to columbia.journal.arts@gmail.com with the word “submission” in the subject line. |
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For more information about the Department of Energy’s proposals please visit: http://www.wipp.energy.gov/PICsProg/PICs_general.htm http://www.wipp.energy.gov/PICsProg/PICs_tech_concept.htm http://www.wipp.energy.gov/PICsProg/articles/WIPP%20Exhibit%20Message%20to%2012,000%20A_D.htm
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