Guest lecture on atomic heritage, February 13

Veera Ojala, PhD Candidate at the University of Turku, will deliver a guest lecture on "Chornobyl Dreams. Mapping the cultural coproduction of atomic heritage" at the UT Institute of Cultural Research on Tuesday, Feb 13 at 10:15 am in Ülikooli 16-214.

More information below. Please join us!

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Little is known about the overall meaning of the Chornobyl exclusion zone (CEZ) from the visitors’ point of view. With the assistance of qualitative interviews and photographs of visitors to the exclusion zone, my research explores the cultural experiences of nuclear power and people's ways of experiencing and creating meaning from radioactive landscapes. In my analysis, I focus on how these experiences translate into visual storytelling. With this approach, the study sheds light on the visitors’ practices of visual engagement with the heritage resources in CEZ and the altering affordances of materiality, sensory experiences, and digital technology devices. The analysis of visitors' visual engagements with the zone's heritage artefacts reveals visitors' evolving engagements and pictorial interests in the context of participatory digital visual culture. The lecture provides insights into participatory culture as an agent that changes how heritage is viewed, perceived, and experienced. This research work will provide insights into the public’s role in the interpretation processes of nuclear cultural heritage and the role of the public as a contemporary creator of digital nuclear archives.

Bio: 

I am a doctoral student in cultural heritage at the University of Turku, and I am interested in radioactive landscapes and nuclear waste from the perspective of a cultural researcher. In my dissertation research, I focus on the visual culture of the Chornobyl exclusion zone, emphasising participant-oriented perspectives. Supported by interviews and photographs of visitors to the area, my research explores the cultural experiences of nuclear power and people's ways of creating images of nuclear power. The research joins an international and multidisciplinary research orientation that combines nuclear power and cultural heritage research under the heading "Nuclear Cultural Heritage."