Henrik Plenge Jakobsen Recreates Manhattan Project at Frac des Pays de la Loire

Henrik Plenge Jakobsen's exhibition "Manhattan Engineering District" at Frac des Pays de la Loire in Carquefou, France (May 17 to September 7, 2007) revisits the Manhattan Project through symbolic and material reconstructions. The show features six pieces in a semi-dark, cinematic atmosphere, including a gleaming Chevrolet evoking 1940s America, a full-scale replica of the first atomic bomb (The Gadget 1945), a wooden and rubber model of the nuclear implosion device (Kistiakowsky's Dark Implosion 1943), and a blackboard covered with scientific formulas (Fermi Equation 1943). A slide projection (MAUD/S-1 Uranium Committee/MED 1938-1945) documents key locations and figures. A Geiger counter tests trinitite (radioactive glass from the Trinity test) in the work "Recharging Trinitite," producing shrill sounds and displaying falsified high radiation levels. Jakobsen, known for his earlier work "Diary Plasma" (1996) involving his own urine, continues to use art as a critical space to confront societal anxieties about science and violence.