PARIS.- Nadav Kander ~ Dust features a press release, the work, a map, a video interview, list of events, and book information.

Releasing a non interactive work in a typically interactive medium, Nadav Kander breaks new grounds and gives an enriched experience of the hauntingly beautiful pictures of the radioactive ruins of secret cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia and the desolate landscapes of the Aral sea.

Rooted in an interest in the ‘aesthetics of destruction,’ Nadav Kander’s most recent project Dust explores the vestiges of the Cold War through the radioactive ruins of secret cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia.

Priozersk (formally known as ‘Moscow 10’) and Kurchatov are closed cities, restricted military zones, concealed and not shown on maps until they were ‘discovered’ by Google Earth. Enlisted to the pursuits of science and war, the sites were utilized for the covert testing of atomic and long distance weapons. Falsely claimed as uninhabited, the cities, along with nearby testing site ‘The Polygon’ set the stage for one of the most cynical experiments ever undertaken. Scientists watched and silently documented the horrifying effects of radiation and pollution on the local population and livestock.

Demolished to preserve their military secrets, the areas now consist predominantly of the ruinous architecture and desolate landscapes. A result of the Cold War and of the relentless quest for nuclear armaments, the ruins stand as accidental monuments to the melancholic, dark and destructive side of human nature.

Fascinated by the area’s past and driven by discovery, Kander’s photographs portray stark fact and bleak setting with a characteristic poeticism. Secrets seem to seep from the silence of the crumbling monuments, bowing under heavy grey skies. Describing what he saw as ‘empty landscapes of invisible dangers’ Kander’s images evoke his sense of awe and fear as he responded to these places and to the weight of their history.

‘These images do not make beautiful what is not, they ask of us that we repurpose ourselves to accept a new order of both the beautiful and the real’ Will Self

Born in 1961 and based in London, Nadav Kander is a recipient of the renowned Prix Pictet and one of today’s most successful photographers.

In 2009 Kander was awarded the Prix Pictet and was also named International Photographer of the Year at the 7th Annual Lucie Awards. His work appears regularly in many international publications such as The New York Times Magazine and Time Magazine. Nadav's work is housed in several public collections including National Portrait Gallery, London, the V&A Museum and the Frank Suss Collection. He has exhibited internationally at venues including Musée de L’Elysee, Lausanne, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, Kennedy’s Museum, Berlin, The Photographers’ Gallery and Somerset House, London, Palais de Tokyo, Paris and Herzilya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel. Monographs include Bodies. 6 Women, 1 Man (2013) and Yangtze, The Long River (2010). Forthcoming: Dust (2014).


www.nadavkander.com