The film archive as boundary object

Moving image practice is uniquely suited to extended dialogue with scientific practitioners. Reflecting on my own experiences linking scientists, workers and residents of nuclear towns, I explore the use of film archive material and the ‘grain of its voice’ to explore links between hyper-specific lived experience and ways in which nationhood and the nuclear are tightly bound together in UK self-image.
I introduce the concept of the ‘boundary object’ (Guthrie, 2022) which relates to things, processes or ways of interacting which allow artists and scientists to explore each other’s ways of making, experiencing and thinking without the requirement to abandon their uniqueness. It avoids the scenarios of artists illustrating scientists work, or scientists being dragged into artificial ‘participation’ exercises.