HOLDING WHAT CAN'T BE HELD
July 2nd - July 18th, 2015
A group exhibition in collaboration with the Snake River Alliance. An exhibition of site-specific works that focus on the radioactive "clean-up" sites at the Idaho National Laboratory.
The project, Holding What Can’t Be Held asks viewers to step inside a paradox. In October of 2014 a group of artists joined the Snake River Alliance on a tour of the radioactive “clean-up” sites at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) – a pilgrimage to the nuclear waste in our own backyard. Located outside Idaho Falls, on the ancestral lands of the Shoshone Bannock tribes, and directly above the Snake River Aquifer, the INL is rich in material for contemplation. Presently the INL and the Idaho State government hope for a nuclear renaissance, devising ever new ways to turn a dangerously powerful material into a windfall. Huge amounts of money go into the creation of what eventually becomes too volatile to use – a substance that will persist far beyond any container we could manufacture and beyond the meaning of any symbol we might create. The artists involved were drawn to the project for a variety of reasons, from exploring family connections to the site, to wrestling with spans of time that boggle the mind. After all, how do you hold what can’t be held? How do you tell a story that will last a hundred thousand years?
Artists: Laura Ahola-Young, Jonathan Saddler, Catherine Reinhardt, April VanDeGrift, Thea Belecz, Elijah Jensen, John McMahon, Alissa Salimore, Tim Norton, Tim Andreae and Jeri Ann Sabin