Photos
The British Atomic Nuclear Group's shop on Shoreditch High Street, London.
The shop contains government reports and white papers on nuclear policy, posters declaim 'Atomic energy for happy life' , and some form of consultation exercise is taking place, judging by the information boards. An interactive display with a big red button that invites you to press it if you 'want to know more?'. The button doesn't do anything. There was also a rudimentary education corner showing work done by the artists with local school groups.
Chris Oakley's film 'Half Life' was on show behind the shop.
More intrepid visitors could enter the rest of the sprawling warehouse, firstly into an area with a bucket, a caution wet floor sign, a locked fallout shelter and some bags of shredded paper which littered the floor.
Further into the space, visitors encountered a nightwatchman's hut. The hut was shaking, and a look through the glass brick floor gave the sense of a slow heavy moving train passing underneath. A television was left on, playing an episode of Yes Prime Minister (the Grand Design) about Trident, and cctv footage showed other spaces in the building. From a walkie talkie hooked over the door, the sound of a guard dog could intermittently be heard. The windows of the hut were covered over with newspaper articles about nuclear power. The desk contained books and reports such as 'Going Critical' and 'IAEA Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy'. The nightwatchman's coat was still on his chair, decorated with a cnd badge. The 80's and the present day appeared to exist side by side in this seemingly just-abandoned space.
Walking down one corridoor, where hazard lights blinked on and off, an anonymous barrel store lay at one end.
Turning the corner past this, there was a room with phasing overhead lights and a sentry post. Behind the sentry post at the end of the room, green light emanated from the windows of safety doors. The doors themselves were forced shut by a mop. On the sentry posts desk, a geiger counter gave staggered readings, a military phone was off the hook, and the sentry's jacket with an embroidered 'Ministry of Defence Guard' logo remained hanging off the back of the chair. A cctv monitor showed the nightwatchman's hut, the sentry room, and footage from a stairwell of barrels laying on the floor. Another shot showed a much bigger underground space, a prone figure lying still on the floor, and some sort of lift door attempting to close with (another figure?) blocking it.
Looking through the fire door windows, one could see barrels lying at odd angles, the legs and boots of a figure on the stairs, a pair of gloved hands reaching out but lifeless on the bottom staircase, and a gloved hand, this time twitching, scraping against the safety glass.
Photo credits: Kristian Buus, Tom Keene, Matt Ayres, Hollington & Kyprianou