On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl disaster shook the world. A radioactive cloud was released from reactor No. 4 into the atmosphere and spread across all of Europe.
An exclusion zone was declared, an area within a radius of 30 km surrounding the nuclear power plant. In the meantime nature has quietly and persistently reclaimed the deserted area. Some artists are observing this development more closely.
"Looking back at it today, the nuclear disaster has done less damage to the environment than the continuous influence of humanity", recapitulates curator and photographer Volker Kreidler one of the scientific theses in his work Third Landscape.
Anna Jermolaewa's video Chernobyl Safari asks the question: "Is a world without humans even imaginable?" The answer is certainly yes. With the help of wildlife cameras, installed within the exclusion zone, she impressively proves: the animals and plants on this planet do not need humans.
In 2015, Volker Kreidler found last relicts of the native flora before the contamination in an abandoned school building in Prypiat. Thanks to the half-life of barium, the herbarium once created by children is no longer radioactive today. The children's collection of dried plants is a sign of a bygone era. There is no sign of the extent of the disaster.
Maxim Dondyuk, Pierpaolo Mittica, and Victoria Ivleva are focusing more strongly on humans. Driven by the desire not to forget the people who used to live there, Dondyuk has been retrieving things left behind in the destroyed houses - mainly photos, letters, and negatives - since 2016.
Mittica visited the few inhabitants who, almost unnoticed, never left their houses in the villages located in the exclusion zone, and also people who are still working there.
Last but not least Ivleva is the woman who caused a sensation in 1991, she was the first journalist allowed to enter Reactor 4 to take photos.
Marcel Rickli looks very far ahead into the future. In his series AEON he wonders, how we can make sure today that people in a million years time will still know where the disposal facilities for nuclear waste are located.
It is something concerning us and our descendants alike. Especially here, since at the moment scientists are trying to find out, if the area around Ulm is a suitable location for a disposal facility. The decision is expected to be made by 2050...
For Andreas Thaler from Ulm, our region also plays a role. Near the cooling towers of the former nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen, which is close to Ulm, he found a so-called Blutbannkreuz dating back to 1772. This cross reminds of high justice, in other words capital punishment being administered in Gundremmingen.
Tschernobyl, a new issue of the edition stadthaus series, will be published to accompany the exhibition (only available in German). The author Michael Seefelder, a former local news editor for the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine, gives a detailed account of the atomic age, based on the developments in Gundremmingen.
This issue also includes short texts and images by all artists presented in the exhibition. Available at the Stadthaus and in our online shop from 23 January 2026 for 5 euros.
Curated by: Volker Kreidler
Marcel Rickli's contribution is supported by the Swiss arts council Pro Helvetia
