From You, A Hundred Years Ago
Abstract
Nuclear experiments conducted by the U.S. on the Marshall Islands during the Cold War resulted in the displacement of the inhabitants of Runit and Bikini Island for the next 24,000 years to come. Outraged by the overkill of such experiments in their homes, the Marshallese remain bound by the Compact of Free Association which provides for various economic and security benefits to the nation in exchange for immunity against any litigation cases against the U.S. government.
Today, mounting pressure of China’s growing influence in the Pacific region is pushing the U.S. to strong arm unfavorable deals with the Marshallese government once again, all the while rising sea levels eats away at the nuclear containment tomb in Runit Island.
The thesis proposes the introduction of dark tourism as a passive re-containment program to deal with the leaking radioactive tomb in Runit island. The navigation of the radioactive landscapes through interfaces and safety protocols revisits the traumatic nuclear legacy of Marshall Islands, turning trauma into a tool of hope and survival for the Marshallese, giving them bargaining power in ensuring the accountability and responsibility of the U.S.
Supervisor Comments
Memories of disasters cease to exist in people’s mind, especially when a physical entity that triggers such memories are wiped out. Engaging with the history of hydrogen-bomb-experiment by the U.S., and the recent existential threat by the sea-level-rising in Bikini Atoll, the project attempted to resist against such disappearance by commemorating the events and postponing the submergence of the land and dilution of existing nuclear pollutant to the sea. The challenge is to perpetuate the traumatic experience for visitors through a series of architectural devices. The piled resin blocks that contain the visitors’ protective cloths, and architectural finish using copper plates register the visitors’ activities and turn them into a device to trigger the original memory of the experiment, while the tower of resin stood out from the sea’s surface demarcate the past existence of the events in the most essential manner.
- Assoc. Prof. Tsuto Sakamoto
Choon Wong Yen Gabriel
Choon Wong Yen Gabriel