Igor would visit every facility in the complex to check on the progress, interact with colleagues, lift their spirit, and communicate a task. During the height of the world war, inconspicuous titles like that were common due to the prevalence of spies from both Western Allied Forces and the Soviet Union. “They had been closed for many years.” (All pictures: Nadav Kander, courtesy Flowers Gallery London and New York). Since the decommissioning of the Test Site, the population of Kurchatov dropped from 50,000 to just 13,000. The Polgon Nuclear Test Site IV, Kazakhstan, 2011. “I made one of what I thought would be four or five trips there,” says Kander. This clandestine project took nine years and also involved infiltrating the Western Allied Manhattan Project. Beni Bischof’s cars – A vision for driving in the future? In modern times, the institution is categorized into different research centers dealing with a plethora of scientific questions. Nadav Kander discusses his new body of work 'Dust' ahead of his solo exhibition at Flowers Gallery. A ward-winning photographer Nadav Kander is not interested in producing simply beautiful photographs. For anyone who wants to visit Kurchatov, you will have to get in touch with the National Nuclear Center to arrange your trip. One of the first pictures Nadav Kander ever made was of a bluebottle fly, dead on a newspaper. Nadav Kander – Diorama of The Polygon Test Site (before the event), Kurchatov, Kazakhstan, 2011. “By being shot in a beautiful light, the pictures are showing a fundamental truth that there’s no one without the other; you can’t have life without death, health without disease, beauty without imperfection,” he says. 69 View in Monographs It still depends on the nuclear technologies for its sustainability, though not on a grand scale as before. Until 2006, it was off the map. The ruins are but a tool to illustrate the secrets of humanity that leave so many questions unanswered. The town was once booming, but following the termination of nuclear testing, which ultimately led to the STS’s decommissioning, its population has starkly reduced. Igor was a reputable Soviet nuclear physicist who worked as a director of the infamous, highly classified Soviet atomic bomb project. The Polygon Nuclear Test Site I (after the event), Kazakhstan, 2011. We would love to keep the conversation going. Available for sale from Flowers, Nadav Kander, Kurchatov I (Scientific Research Facility), Kazakhstan (2011), Chromogenic Print, 147 × 179 cm “Google Earth discovered these secret cities that the maps had never shown,” says Kander. Nadav Kander – Priozersk X (house of culture), Kazakhstan, 2011, Nadav Kander – Priozersk XIII (house of culture) Kazakhstan, 2011, Your email address will not be published. “We have savagery, we have envy – we have shadow. The other side of the city is up-to-date, with modern buildings and architecture, especially the Park of Nuclear Technologies (PNT) building. “It turned out to only be two, because I was arrested each time – once you’ve been arrested in Russia twice, you don’t want to push it by going back again.” This image shows a telephone exchange in Kurchatov, one of the Soviet Union’s ‘closed cities’: built using gulag labour, it was the spot chosen by the head of Stalin’s secret police as a base for scientists in the state nuclear testing programme. Nadav Kander: Radioactive ruins of … Nadav Kander – Kurchatov III (technical area), Kazakhstan, 2011, Nadav Kander – The Aral Sea Diptych (seabed), Kazakhstan, 2011. Nadav Kander – Priozersk II (tulip in bloom), Kazakhstan, 2011. The Kurchatov Institute then interlinked computers in different scientific institutions in major Soviet cities, including Kyiv, Moscow, Novosibirsk, and Leningrad. After that, his health deteriorated quickly, suffering a stroke in 1954 and later died of a cardiac embolism in Moscow. Many people might not be aware of the existence of secret Soviet towns, once used to test nuclear missiles. Nadav Kander (born 1961) is a recipient of the renowned Prix Pictet and one of today's most successful pho­tographers. Nadav Kander – Kurchatov IV (telephone exchange), Kazakhstan, 2011, Nadav Kander – Kurchatov V (heating plant), Kazakhstan, 2011. Kurchatov is still home to the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which oversees the former test site. There are many secrets from the long lasting Cold War that only officials know about - and that includes the recently not-so … eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'publicdelivery_org-netboard-1','ezslot_21',187,'0','0'])); The National Nuclear Center of Kazakhstan says that most areas within the test site range may not be used commercially for a long time. “The Cold War and the relentless quest for nuclear armaments created many of the ruins that we see here,” he writes in the [exhibition monograph](http://www.flowersgallery.com/shop/kander-dust/). 2 so that to keep its operations secret. Established in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. Some areas are military grounds, mining cities or tourist destinations while others are education hubs just to mention a few. In 1960, the institute was renamed after Igor Kurchatov, who served with distinction as its first head. Crows are drawn to death, to decay, to remains. They are in a way a mirror that reflects death upon life and imperfection upon beauty. Photograph: Nadav Kander/courtesy Flowers Gallery London and New York Facebook Twitter Pinterest Priozersk XIV (I Was Told She Once Held An Oar), Kazakhstan 2011. The building used to be a hotel in the 1950s. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'publicdelivery_org-box-4','ezslot_5',118,'0','0'])); Nadav Kander – The Polygon Nuclear Test Site IV, Kazakhstan, 2011. Diorama of The Polygon Test Site (before the event), Kurchatov, Kazakhstan, 2011. While the area had been described as uninhabited, there was a large civilian town within 160km of the site. British Journal of Photography caught up with Nadav Kander ahead of his appearance at The Photography Show 2017 in Birmingham. The institute was initially codenamed Laboratory No. Apart from the Test Site, the main highlight of the town is the Museum of the Semipalatinsk Test Site, which documents nuclear testing. In addition, every engineer who worked in the project went through a series of elaborate security check systems. Dust When Nadav Kander learned of the existence of two “closed” cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia, he knew that he would have to visit them. He was born in Israel, grew up in Johannesburg and moved to London in 1982 to begin his career in earnest. Nadav Kander – The Polygon Nuclear Test Site X, (Atomic Lake), Kazakhstan 2011. Near the spot where First Lightning was launched, guards in face masks and military fatigues can be seen recording radiation levels on Geiger counters. In 1949, the USSR tested its first nuclear bomb 60km away. Nadav Kander – The Polygon Nuclear Test Site I (after the event), Kazakhstan, 2011. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'publicdelivery_org-box-3','ezslot_2',115,'0','0']));If it were possible to take a picture of the entire earth’s surface, the mosaic of human co-existence would be a sight to behold. Speaking during its 75th anniversary in 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin said this about the institute’s importance to his county’s history: The nuclear reactors designed within the walls of the institute and used in our industry, shipbuilding, medicine, space, and defense sectors, have become the symbols of our state’s power. He is widely referred to as the father of the Soviet atomic bomb and the father of the Soviet Nuclear Missile. Required fields are marked *. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. For many years while nuclear testing was still being undertaken, Kurchatov was closed to the public and was one of the most restricted regions not only in the Soviet Union but the entire world. "Beauty on its own is boring," he says. “We suddenly saw this statue, fully bathed in light, and by the time I’d set up the light was diminishing and travelling up her body. Nadav Kander’s work will be shown at Somerset House, London as part of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition. But alongside this public-facing oeuvre, he has spent decades pursuing personal work … Though it is crumbling, this former imposing building still features its original details and decorations, including Soviet stars on its interior columns and exterior façade. Mark Ruwedel in Ouarzazate - An artistic capture of ruins, Photographer Eiji Ohashi & the beauty of vending machines in Japan, Lewis Baltz's Park City - Criticism of 1970s real estate growth, Michael Najjar & Outer Space - Shooting for the stars, The beginning of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, The institute under Kurchatov’s leadership, Introduction of the internet & other innovations. Nevertheless, the city is still inhabitable, especially its southern parts. Nadav Kander. For his efforts, Igor was rewarded with the USSR State Prize in physics in 1954. eval(ez_write_tag([[970,250],'publicdelivery_org-banner-1','ezslot_9',120,'0','0'])); Nadav Kander – The Polygon Nuclear Test Site XII (dust to dust), Kazakhstan, 2011, Nadav Kander – Kurchatov VIII (unknown structure), Kazakhstan, 2011. A few meters away, red flags tape off the danger zones. “The parts that I was interested in were… the parts that were destroyed, that were to do with the Cold War.” For Kander, the ruins took on greater meaning. Nadav Kander – Album of Nuclear Explosions 1955 page 1, Kazakhstan, 2011. Scientists honed the weapons and monitored their effect on the local population. Nadav Kander is a contemporary British-Israeli photographer known for his images of cities and landscapes, as in his photobooks Yangtze—The Long River (2010) and Dust (2012). Nadav Kander is a sought-after and immensely productive portrait-maker, shooting covers of some of the world’s most important individuals (Obama, Blair, Kissinger) for some of the most respected publications. All that remains now is a massive deserted landscape of radioactivity. Nadav Kander, The Polygon Nuclear Test Site (After the Event), Kazakhstan (2011) Photo courtesy of Flowers Gallery. NADAV KANDER (b 1961) Nadav Kander is a London-based photographer, artist and director renowned for his portraiture and large-format landscape photographs. He played a prominent role as the director of the secret nuclear program during the Second World War. For instance, uranium went by the name “silicon”. Still, through various studies and research currently being undertaken at the center, it plans to return more than 80 percent of the land for commercial activities. Another significant contribution of the Kurchatov Institute is the introduction of the internet in the Soviet Union and later, Russia. “While we often think of a ruin as something beautiful and romantic, something that conjures melancholy – these are ruins to a very dark past and not that way at all.” Yet he wasn’t there to record history: “I’m not a documentarian, this is a human condition – for all humans,” he says. Nadav Kander Dust 2011. Nadav Kander began a three year survey of secret Soviet scientific cities and missile test sites when he learned of the existence of two "closed" cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia that tickled his curiosity for secrecy and his interest in the aesthetics of destruction. The exhibition Quietude brings together work by the London-based, award-winning artist Nadav Kander, taken internationally over the last twenty years. Today, the lab activities are centered on the safe development of nuclear energy, plasm processes, low and medium energy nuclear physics, meson chemistry, and solid-state physics and superconductivity. There are parts of ourselves that we don’t like. Normally when Nadav Kander turns up to shoot a portrait, the only thing he’s thought through beforehand is the lighting. The NNC will also arrange for your accommodation, which is on a full board basis. The first three spreads of Nadav Kander's enigmatically titled book, "Dust," show the dark silhouettes of branches against a night sky, with the black shadows of these ominous black birds somehow standing out against the darkness. 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