Second Workshop

Location

Malmö-Barsebäck-Lund, Sweden

Duration

May 8-11, 2023

Participants

30 representatives from nuclear industry, museums, universities and municipalities from Lithuania, Sweden and the UK.

The second NuSPACES participatory workshop was held from 8 to 11 May 2023 in Malmö, Barsebäck & Lund, Sweden, and was attended by 30 representatives from nuclear power plants, museums, universities, and town councils from Lithuania, Sweden, and the UK.

The workshop began with an informal introduction by each participant, who shared their favorite nuclear objects. These ranged from playgrounds, mugs, and drawings to cigarette lighters, posters for atomic dance competition and atomic energy game. Some participants mentioned a control room, their own notebooks, a 10-mark banknote from East Germany with a female operator image, or even cotton underwear associated with work in the plant. This variety of objects demonstrated the diverse nature of the nuclear legacy.  The second part of the first meeting was also dedicated to sharing news and updates on developments related to nuclear cultural heritage in stakeholder organizations. The updates were rich and promising, with many plans for exhibits, publications, and even brand new museums in the future.

On day two, the focus was on the Barsebäck nuclear power plant. The first stop was at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU Alnarp to see the newly discovered drawing archive of the Barsebäck landscape architect Per Friberg, under the guidance of archivist Douglas Gunnarsson. The second stop was at the Barsebäck nuclear power plant itself. Two groups entered the controlled area, guided by two former operators and communication manager Maria Taranger. The third part of the day’s plan was a bus and walking tour of the Barsebäck landscape, guided by Pär Gustafsson, Helene Stalin, and Henrik Borg. After taking in scenic views of the sea and green surroundings, the group returned to Barsebäck to visit an old Expo building and spent the rest of the evening reflecting and discussing the representative values of Barsebäck.

The following day was spent at the Malmö Museums. After a brief guided tour of the “Muscles and Engines” exhibition, participants met with the leader of the upcoming “Malmö Industrial City” exhibition on industrial history, set to open in 2024. The future exhibition will include a section on Barsebäck, so participants were asked to brainstorm possible key objects, narratives, formats, textures, sounds, etc. based on their visit to Barsebäck the previous day. The workshop on ideas for the exhibition was followed by discussion on one of the planned outcomes of the NuSPACES project – the Nuclear Cultural Heritage Handbook. The highlight of the third day was the public event “Nuclear Cultural Heritage: How are we to remember the Barsebäck nuclear power plant in the future?”. The event featured an art intervention by sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard, who recorded sounds in the Barsebäck power plant, a panel discussion with 5 participants from the industry, museum, and anti-nuclear movement, and a film screening of the 1963 documentary “Atomer till vardags” and the brand new documentary “Ågesta – a ripple in time”. In addition, guests had the opportunity to view recent drawings by children on the history and future of Barsebäck, as well as nuclear photography by Jenny Eliasson, and to participate in a nuclear quiz.

On the final workshop day, we spent time at Kulturen in Lund. Eglė Rindzevičiūtė provided an update on the project’s status after two years, Linda Ross presented the literature review, Linara Dovydaitytė and Oksana Denisenko gave a short teaser for the third workshop in Lithuania. Finally, participants evaluated the workshop and shared suggestions for the meeting next year.

Find out more about the workshop from one of its participants:
Maria Taranger ”Vad är speciellt med Barsebäcksverket?” [What is special about the Barsebäck nuclear power plant?], Uniper Sweden, blog article, 4 October 2023, available (in Swedish) at https://www.uniper.energy/sverige/nyheter/vad-aer-speciellt-med-barsebaecksverket/ including interviews with Anna Storm and Eglė Rindzevičiūtė.