Nuclear Voyage — Armin Linke

The exhibition is presented on the occasion of Exposed PhotoFestival 2025 as part of ECHOES and it’s realized with the Patronage of Città di Torino.

Nuclear Voyage is a dystopian journey through a world suspended between reality and imagination, where the bond between technology and progress has been irreversibly broken. By mapping inactive nuclear power plants, waste sites, and semi-abandoned locations, Armin Linke raises questions about nuclear energy and its ethical and responsibility-related implications. The artist chooses to create and present the work in 3D technology to emphasize the contrast between the initial enthusiasm for this new form of energy and the subsequent disillusionment surrounding its use.

Starting from two crucial events—the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the referendum the following year that led to the closure of nuclear power plants in Italy—Linke intertwines imagery and technique to bring to life performative and surreal scenarios where different voices and methodologies intersect. His work serves as a collection of tools to unveil the strategies and language behind the design of art spaces, challenging the very concept of installation and the perception of the exhibition environment. For this reason, the projection is designed to be experienced in its optimal form by only two people at a time, using 3D glasses, thus underscoring the artist’s intention to subvert the traditional use of artistic spaces through limitations and internal contradictions.

The exhibition concept is closely tied to the theme of Nuclear Voyage, which presents itself as an exploration of a specific historical period, marked by enthusiasm for space missions, technological innovation, and the race toward a future that, between the 1980s and 1990s, seemed to promise an era of progress that never truly materialized. The result is a profound sense of emptiness, laden with melancholy and disillusionment. Within this dystopian framework, even the use of 3D technology—now an obsolete medium—becomes an integral part of the reflection, highlighting the fate of innovation, often destined for rapid decline and sudden obsolescence, despite its initial promise.

For Linke, moving images and photography do not represent an endpoint but rather a starting point for raising ethical and responsibility-related questions. His work explores the flaws in future planning and the interdependencies between artistic practice and contemporary socio-political dynamics, questioning the relationship between technology, memory, and the possibility of change.