





Mareike Bernien &
Alex Gerbaulet &
Sonne unter Tage by Mareike Bernien and Alex Gerbaulet is an artistic and cinematic research project examining the ecological, health and social consequences of the uranium mining by the Wismut SDAG. The Wismut AG was one of the largest uranium mining companies in the world and played a central role in supplying the Soviet Union with uranium, which was used both for energy production and, primarily, for military purposes. Between 1946 and 1990, large quantities of uranium were extracted in the Wismut regions in Saxony and Thuringia.
Bernien’s and Gerbaulet’s film combines infra-red and night footage of landscapes in Saxony and Thuringia, documents, archives and rocks that glow under UV light, with a narrative layer composed of three voices. These voices recount the history of uranium mining, socialism and the consequences of radioactive decay processes. The artists shot the film, among other things, with a converted infra-red camera that is also used to map damaged plants. In this way, Bernien and Gerbaulet create an uncanny aesthetic for their engagement with (radio-)active matter. The film’s script is based on interviews with former workers and members of the environmental movement in the GDR, which are woven into a nonlinear narrative through a transitional ›I‹.
At the heart of the film lies the idea of transformation: the transformation of elements from uranium to bismuth, from bismuth to lead, the transformation of the landscape and the bodies of those who were exposed to the radioactive materials as well as the political transformation of the GDR after the fall of socialism. (Anne Diestelkamp)
Produced by: pong film
Supported by: Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung/gkfd, Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, Stiftung Kunstfonds, FFA