Synopsis
Photographs have a crucial place in the representation of the atomic age and its anxieties. Camera Atomica examines narratives beyond the 'technological sublime' that dominates much nuclear photography, suppressing representations of the human form in favor of representations of B-52 bombers and mushroom clouds.
The book proposes that the body is the site where the social environment interacts with the so-called 'atomic road': uranium mining and processing, radiation research, nuclear reactor construction and operation, and weapons testing. Cameras have both recorded and 'in certain instances' provided motivation for the production of nuclear events.
Their histories and technological development are intimately intertwined: at McGill University in the early 1900s, for example, Ernest Rutherford employed photography to identify the properties of radioactive materials, winning a Nobel Prize for his research, and at Los Alamos in the mid-1940s, Julian E.Mack and Berlyn Brixner designed specialized cameras for measuring the blast yield of nuclear weapons. All photographs, including nuclear photographs, have the capability to function affectively by working on the emotions and fascinating audiences.
Through a wide range of visual documentation, Camera Atomica raises questions such as: what has the role of photography been in underwriting a public image of the bomb and nuclear energy? Has the circulation of photographic images heightened or lessened anxieties, or done both at the same time? How should the different visual protocols of photography 'scientific, journalistic, documentary, touristic, and artistic 'be understood'?
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
John O’Brian is a curator, art historian and writer who has published more than a dozen books. He has taught art history at the University of British Columbia since 1987. During his tenure as the Brenda & David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies, UBC from 2008 to 2011, he explored the engagement of photography with the atomic era in Canada.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Camera Atomica: Photographing the Nuclear World
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Camera Atomica
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Art Gallery of Ontario; Black Dog Publishing, Toronto and London, 2014
ISBN 10: 1908966483
ISBN 13: 9781908966483
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Paperback. Condition: Fine. 1st. 304 pages, illustrations (some colour), portraits; 25 cm. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Camera Atomica, Art Gallery of Ontario, 8 July 2014 to 25 January 2016. Firm binding, clean inside copy. *** "Photographs have a crucial place in the representation of the atomic age and its anxieties. This book examines narratives beyond the technological sublime that dominates much nuclear photography, suppressing representations of the human form in favor of representations of B-52 bombers and mushroom clouds. The book proposes that the body is the site where the social environment interacts with the so-called atomic road: uranium mining and processing, radiation research, nuclear reactor construction and operation, and weapons testing. Co-published with the Art Gallery of Ontario to accompany a major exhibition there in 2014. Cameras have both recorded and - in certain instances - provided motivation for the production of nuclear events. Their histories and technological development are intimately intertwined: at McGill University in the early 1900s, for example, Ernest Rutherford employed photography to identify the properties of radioactive materials, winning a Nobel Prize for his research, and at Los Alamos in the mid-1940s, Julian E. Mack and Berlyn Brixner designed specialized cameras for measuring the blast yield of nuclear weapons." - Publisher. *** CONTENTS: Acknowledgements, by John O'Brian; Introduction: through a radioactive lens, by John O'Brian; Photographing mushroom clouds in an age of risk, by John O'Brian; Uranium; Radiation. Posing by the cloud: U.S. nuclear test site photography in process, by Julia Bryan-Wilson; Hiroshima; Nagasaki. Hidden and forgotten Hibakusha: nuclear legacy, by Hiromitsu Toyosaki; The wrong sun, by Douglas Coupland; Text and protest. Through the lens, darkly, by Iain Boal & Gene Ray; Atomic photographs below the surface, by Blake Fitzpatrick; Visible and invisible. Radical contact prints, by Susan Schuppli; Atomic timeline. Size: 8vo. Collectible. Seller Inventory # 111971
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Camera Atomica: Photographing the Nuclear World
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