Every Sunday, discover the exhibition Apocalypses. What Did You See in Hiroshima?
Eighty years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have we truly grasped the significance of this monumental event? This exhibition, curated by Geneva-based artist and photographer Nicolas Crispini, explores its immediate memory and long-term legacy through various forms of installations: photographs, films, books, objects, sounds, testimonies, and interviews.
The exhibition follows the themes of the Apocalypse and nuclear peril, both of which threaten the extinction of all life on Earth. Many well-known figures highlight this danger, including the famous Protestant Albert Schweitzer. The exhibition offers multiple perspectives—both visual and auditory—to assess the full impact of these two disasters: Hiroshima and Nagasaki devastated by the bomb, vanished or mutilated bodies, accounts from survivors past and present, and maps of nuclear tests conducted since 1945.
Contrasting with these panoramas is a focus on the unconscious or orchestrated propaganda surrounding the military atom, promoted by the victors of World War II: autographed photos from the crews of the bombers that flew on August 6 and 9, 1945; the atomic bomb theme echoed in clothing, toys, comics, songs, and even the U.S. election of “Miss Atomic Bomb.”
As the philosopher Denis de Rougemont once said: “The Bomb is not dangerous at all. It’s an object. What is horribly dangerous is man.”
