The public engagement project Picturing the Invisible, organised by European researchers and aimed at engaging European publics (specifically, publics in Germany and the UK), was awarded the EASST John Ziman Award given to significant innovative collaborative activity which promotes public interaction with science and technology. The project (a combination of physical exhibition, online exhibition, events and videos) was a collaborative public engagement project made possible by the hard work of seven acclaimed artists and fourteen essayists.
Organised 10-years after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Picturing the Invisible promoted public engagement with the lingering legacy of this nuclear incident. Co-ordinated by STS scholars and students, the photography exhibition brings together seven eminent artists working in the territory affected by the “triple disaster”. To place their works in their broader political context, each artwork has been paired with an essay by an academic (e.g. Sheila Jasanoff, Brian Wynne), policymaker (e.g. former British Ambassador to Japan, Sir David Warren), scientific advisor (International Commission on Radiological Protection Vice- Chair, Jacques Lochard), author (e.g. best-seller, Robert Macfarlane), citizen scientist (e.g. NAIIC co-author, Sakiyama Hisako), or activist (e.g. famed environmentalist Aileen Mioko Smith, whose early work was recently fictionalised in Levitas’ Minamata (2021), starring Johnny Depp and Minami). The works are accompanied by an introduction and essays written by the organising team.
View the Picturing the Invisible website and this PDF for more details.
