Chernobyl in Space?

At the opening of the exhibition.

I may have mentioned this before but some time ago I was asked if I'll ever make comics about Chernobyl. My answer was no, because in the case of Chernobyl it is of my opinion that reality exceeds any form of fiction anyone could ever think up spinning off from the Chernobyl disaster and its consequenses.

However I was a few months ago invited to participate in a comics festival/exhibition in Gothenburg and immediately realized that I needed some new material - I didn't feel like I could just be satisfied by throuwing in an amout of old things - and thus I started drawing pages for my long-term science fiction project Methatron II, after a script I haven't yet written. It all ended up like a re-run of the prelude of the Chernobyl disaster. There was absolutely no thought behind it - it just happened. Or maybe it happened because I had just finished writing a scientific article concerning reactor powered spacecraft. -Who knows?

In any case, here are the pages I am refering to, and to that I will just add that it remains clear that even if I can be removed from Chernobyl, Chernobyl obviously can't be removed from me.

Exhibition Dismantled

Panorama of my exhibition by L-G Johansson.

Yesterday afternoon I, assisted by my brother, disassembled my exhibition at the Gothenburg City Library. There was nothing special about it - we spent approximately 45 minutes climbing around, taking down the posters and cleaning the walls from super extra strong double adhesive tape and then that was it. It felt both a little sad, and like something of a relieve to have gotten it over with: On one hand it will feel strange to visit the library without marching right away to the spot and attend to it, but on the other hand it feels good not to go there every day worrying about theft or vandalism. 

Here are some notes left in the guestbook: 

"Awesome you to spread the truth! It's just the way to do it!"

"A beautiful and frightening exhibition. Thanks for making it!"

"A bloody awesome excellent exhibition, I like the photos and all the drawings!" 

"Beautiful exhibition! I'm really happy that such subjects are taken up today. I'd love to find out more!"

"Thanks for a pleasant exhibition. It would have been nice, though, if it all had been placed so that someone who's 161 cm tall could read the upper parts too. Suggestion: Move the four lower images to the side and move down the larger "posters'." 

"Good to see a Chernobyl exhibition the day before CBRN education. Thanks!" 

"Thought provoking! Strong images!" 

"Om nom nom. Reactor." 

The story continues... 

New horizons

These days research craves more time and effort then it allows me to write here. Today, I cannot provide you with any articles or news as I'm currently going back in history on many different levels concerning all this. What I can give you is another update of what has recently happened in the process.

Of my exhibition only  a few days remain. On Sunday I'll be dismantling it all. The response this far has been only positive but I am very disappointed concerning the Gothenburg City Library's way of handling things so I am not likely to exhibit there again in this way. 

Anders Markgren, assistant information officer at the Forsmark NPP, did not respond to my message. I will have to phone him.

I have taken the book project into further concideration and have started to look for publishers to support this future part of the over all Chernobyl project. Next week we'll have the annual Book and Library fair here in Gothenburg. It's the largest event in Sweden concerning this area and almost all publishers, major as well as minor will be there exhibiting. And so will I, in matters of hunting for those publishers. My hopes are not too high, but if someone get hooked it's just a bonus because no matter what I'll go through with this. I'm not going comersial; merely trying to raise an interest.

Perhaps joint efforts with a likeminded. The picture has changed.

Correnspondence and Encouraging and Series of Events

 I went back to the library today, to attend the no known exhibition and found a note in the guestbook reading: 

"Awesome you who tell the truth - the way it should be"

This sincerely brought warth to my heart and will be added as fuel to what makes me proceed with my work. 

I've been writing many letters lately.

Encouraging is always also when people take their work seriously.

As mentioned in this post, I very recently found out that there's still a Swedish organisation caring for children of Chernobyl. I choose the word "still" because when I was visting the Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum in Kiev there were, as a part of the exhibition, brochures in Swedish, encouraging donations for supporting summer camps for Chernobyl children. These pamphlets were from the late 80's and I cannot recall ever having seen anything like that here. Thus, I was happily surprised when the secretary of information at Tjernobylbarnens Vänner sent me a reply to my message this soon. What surprised me is the fact that this organisation is only 6 years old and has nothing to do with what I saw in Kiev, but even more was I pleased to see that there are people who care not out of tradition, but out of their hearts. Every summer since 2005 they have arranged camps for up to 32 Ukrainian children between the ages of 6 and 15, all suffering health consequenses from the Chernobyl disaster.

A Swedish trade is to have a bad conscience and to feel guilty. Or is it rather about big hearts with a certain sense of taking on responsibility? I honestly, don't know, but to mind is brought the efforts of Liutenant Colonel Vladimir Michailovich Maksimchuk.

Vladimir M. Maksimchuk

Maksimchuk was one of the Chernobyl firefighters who attended not at the night of the disaster, but when there again was a large danger at hand. On the 32rd of May in 1986 sources indicate there that another fire had started at the NPP. The fire rapidly approaced the engine room of the 4th reactor, which was full pipes containing hydrogen gas. Again there was a risk of thermal explosion and Vladimir Maksimchuk and his men were sent in to put out the fire. They could only work firve at the time, for no more than ten minutes each, but Maksimchuck himself stayed close to the area for 12 hours. He received more than 7 Sv/Gy of radiation and was later sent to be hospitalized. 

As soon as Vladimir Maksimchuk had begun to recover, he was sent back to duty. In 1989 he lead the extinguishing work at a chemical plant in the Luthianian city Ionave. In spite of being very ill from radiation sickness, Maksimchuk proceeded with his profession until 1994. In April 1994, the Swedish Red Cross offered the already deadly ill Maksimchuk medical treatment and he was to be transfered to Stockholm by helicopter but it was too late. On May 22nd in 1994 another hero of the big disaster died.

I keep asking myself about the reasons for Sweden to have shown such concern for Chernobyl, its victims and children. May it have something to do with the fact that this country was the very one to expose to the world that something wasn't quite as it should? May it be a way of saying that "as we discovered this mess, it's our duty to help cleaning it up"? Or rather because that they actually asked for help? 


Someone once said:

"Yellow and blue and Chernobyl and Poltava entwine Sweden and Ukraine forever" 

I'll resume my research concerning Chernobyl fallout effects on children and also concerning Vladimir Maksimchuk.

Keeping your fingers to yourself

This will just be another short update concerning my exhibition, currently going on at the City Library of Gothenburg. 

Due to my condition, I have not been able to attend it, but it is obvious that my presense is needed. 

And I'm greatly disappointed with hoe the library manages things. On Tuesday, early afternoon, I received a report from two visiting friends who told me that the exhibition had been littered with irrelevant flyers, brochures, and so on. Already by then the disease had started to infest my body and I was in no condition to go, but as I was also infuried by it all, plus being informed about the delivery of flowers for the exhibition, I decided to go anyway. This is all old news. I also found that people had taken the liberty of providing themselves with the reading copy brochures, that is the same text as on the wall posters but for people who for different reasons find it difficult to read the wall text. Mind you, I do wonder: If they cannot read "Reading copy only" how will they understand the contents of the brochures? There were only one of each.

By Thursday, my condition had worsened severely and thus a friend asked me if there was something she could do for me or the exhibition. I asked her to go and see if everything was all right. Again, there were a number of irrelevant things littering the area, but she removed them.

Yesterday, Saturday, I could finally go there myself. The purpose was of course to maintain it all, but also to spread some flyers about this blog. I found yet another bunch of irrelevant paper matters and also the remaining brochures had been taken by visitors. Including a text, essential for the photo section. In spite of this showing that some people have an interest, I am greatly annoyed with this. If people cannot even let cheap, simple paper matters be, the Ukrainian government were right in their decision to keep them out of the Zone.

For this guest book, where people will be able to write their feedback, I've made a 2 meters long chain that will prevent people from stealing it. 

Tomorrow, no matter what condition I'm in, I will finally go to attend it all, bringing items that will only be on display for the time I'm there. If there's still anything left to attend, that is. 

Rounding up the Swedes

It is obvious that my presense is required at the exhibition. Having caught a cold, I could not be there this afternoon as planned, but two friends who visited the exhibition told me about the mess that had occurred; the banner detaching from the wall and the library personnel loading a lot of junk around it all. As this came to my knowledge late in the afternoon, of course I had no choice but to go there and take care of these nuisances. 

The disturbances were easily gotten rid of, and I could then find the peace to enjoy the flowers sent to the exhibition. Yes that's right, someone actually sent flowers to the exhibition all the way from Stockholm and it was a very pleasant surprise. There was a card attached as well, with a greeting reading "Hoping for a radiating success!"

A few days ago, I was made aware of that some have gotten the impression that this blog was only due to the exhibition and that I would quit writing after that and I admit that I might have stated something that may have encouraged such impressions, but the truth is that... it's not true: I will keep on posting in this blog for as long as there are things to be told.

Hans Blix visiting all-Union Scientific Center of Radioactive Medicine

Some days ago, I decided to write a letter to Hans Blix. Mr. Blix was the chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency between 1981 and 1997 and the first foreigner to visit Chernobyl after the disaster ( as early as in May 1986) where he would discuss the matter of safer nuclear power in the Soviet Union. 

I figured that Hans Blix may be able to answer some of my questions, also because of knowing the political climate of that period (unfortunately politics are inevitable even in this matter) and when a friend actually presented me with proper contact information to Hans Blix, I realized that I would not have to go through with the usual "journalist's routine" but could rather get on straight ahead. 

Blix also met Valery Legasov, the nuclear chemist send from Moscow to investigate the Chernobyl accident (who committed suicide on the anniversary of the disaster in 1988). Also Legasov is an important key in the Chernobyl  jigzaw  and there are details that haven't been written, so when and if I manage to establish contact with Hans Blix, now 84 years old, there are chances that it'll all mean an important deal to my research.

A few weeks ago I contacted the nuclear power plant in Forsmark, who first discovered the Chernobyl fallout, asking to get in touch with someone who worked at the NPP at the time. I received a name and an address. Anders Markgren, assistant information officer at the Forsmark NPP, is now also on my list.


As you can see, I have no intentions of ceasing this.
Today, my father asked me if anyone closely involved ever wrote anything objective and truthful about the disaster. I could only mention Valery Legasov and say that it's possible that his writings are the closest to the truth as we can get, but he is -unfortunately- dead and dead men doesn't answer questions. 
I intend to find out how close to the truth you can get 25 years later. 




[Note: The photo is from profimedia.si]

At last

This morning, the rain was pouring down.

Having slept far too little, I dazedly looked out the window whilst drinking my coffee and wondering how on Earth I'd be able to get my stuff to the City Library without having it all instantly soaked. The answer was found in a large, black plastic trash bag, which I cut open and wrapped around the case containing most of the exhibition material. Then I left for the Gothenburg morning.

The library does not open till 10:00 on weekdays, but after having phoned a number given to me, a friendly janitor showed up and let me in and the work could thus begin.

After approximately one and a half hours of climbing ladders and ledges, I had finally finished this part of the work. More features are to come, but they'll require my presense so it will be on delay till tomorrow.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank all of those who in one way or another have assisted me concerning this part of the project as well as concerning my other research. May it be for providing me with facts, all kinds of practical assistance or inspiration - it's all equally worth to me.

Vlad Bustorshin

Andre Friesen

Yevgen Goncharenko

Lennart Guldbrandsson

Magnus Hagerman

Marcus Harrison

Nicolas Huck

Lars-Göran Johansson

jsbid

Aleksandr Konevalov

Oleg Petrenko

Arkadiusz Podniesinski

Josef Pollak

Oleksandr Rybak 

Aleksandr Strannik

Vladimir Umnyakov

Anton Usov

Janne Wallenius
Yuri Zaritsky

Johan Åstrand

...Thank you!

The exhibition will be on from today till the 18th of September.

Monday - Friday: 10:00 - 20:00
Saturday: 11:00 - 17:00
Sunday: 11:00 - 17:00


Admittance: Free.

The day has come...

Making a case for all the stuff to bring...

Well, not quite yet, but close enough. 

This afternoon I returned after a few days out of town to take care of the final preparations and tomorrow morning I will get up at 6 am (that's why I probably shouldn't drink the insane amounts of strong coffee that I'm ingesting as I type this) , be at the City Library at 8:00 and set up things because at 10:00 my exhibition finally opens.

What else can I say about it? You already know that it's been a dear work to me and that it will not end with this. There's more to Chernobyl than I can put on a wall. I will continue with my research until it can take me no further, but something tells me, and I think I've said this before, that I've barely began to scratch the surface.

If you have the chance to visit the exhibition, I wish you a warm welcome.

What will come?

On my way to reactor blocks 5 and 6. Last day in Chernobyl, It was one kind of ending.

As I write this, a little almost 26 hours have passed since I completed my work for the exhibition. I'm now ready to set it all up. But realizing I had finished, didn't give me a sense of accomplishment; rather was I sad that it had all finally come to an end, and the feeling stays with me, even more than one week prior to the exhibition. This has come to  make me wonder about the purpose of it all. -Was all this work really for the exhibition or was the exhibition just an excuse to perform this work? Both are true, and at the same time neither is true.

The more I've learnt and come to know about Chernobyl and the many branches that spread from there, the more I realize how much more there is to find out. The exhibition was and is a solid goal and at this point I am questioning myself, because I want to see beyond that, and currently it only feels like things have come to an end. 

As any creating, researching person, I'm used to this and I know that it will pass, but at this point I can only think of that I need to get back to the Zone, and that I need to find out more. And I need to find out, if I don't already know, about the impact that Chernobyl has had on me, as I suspect that it may be larger than I ever imagined. I'm not regretting anything, I'm merely curious.

The other day I met a good friend. We had lunch, and amongst all the subjects of our discussions, I briefly aired my loose thoughts of eventually writing a book about Chernobyl. My friend seemed very interested in this, but as he is an author, he needed to ask me why I want to do it, and what reason people have to care about Chernobyl.  I admit to have been confused by this question, because what reason do people have not to be concerned? 

Maybe I became spoilt. Maybe I received too much encouragement and maybe I didn't meet enough people asking me about why I care about the old disaster. 

I started to answer his question. "Because I need to" wasn't an answer good enough, but before I knew it, I had given more reasons than I was even aware of that I had and in the midst of all that, my friend was suddenly pleased, because in his opinion I had mentioned things, reasons,  that are valid enough for people to care outside my biased sphere. "It's the unknown" was one of those answers given and it's true. I many aspects, Chernobyl was, is and will be a mystery, just as it has its past, present and future. It's come to develop a life of its own and many people who have encountered the Zone, regardless of profession, are bound to agree. They may be nuclear physicists, biologists, zoologists, physicians, artists, writers,  journalists or tourists - no matter what profession or title, we can all agree to one thing: It's largely unknown, and to us it's dangerous, because no one knows what will come.

And thus I don't know what will become of this. I only know that the Chernobyl project continues.

The time draws near

Still 2,5 weeks remain till the opening of my Chernobyl exhibition, but already now I estimate the state to be critical as there's still artwork to accomplish, and as I currently have another official tasks as well, the time is limited.


Today, however, I reached something of a breakthrough, finally getting all the printed matters done, so as soon as I've finished setting the layout of it all, I'll be able to proceed with the artwork. On the picture you can see some elements  that will be featured, in a big mess. At this point, my apartment is a construction site in so many ways. 


Wish me luck, comrades!

Breaking the news in Sweden

The last few days have been critical. Still there are 3 weeks remaining till my exhibition opens, but still a lot of work remains. This far I've also reached some dead ends. For example, I found it a good idea to dig out some old micro films of Swedish newspapers from late april 1986 and put them on display as a part of the exhibition, but as I yesterday went to the University Library of Gothenburg to perform this task, I found that due to the extremely badprint quality, this will not be possible. However, it was an interesting reminder for myself as well, to actually read the texts I haven't been reading in over 25 years again, and spending time in the archives was definitely worth it. Here, I'll share some of the results with you. 

Swedish Newspaper "Dagens Nyheter", Tuesday, April 29th 1986:

Reactor accident in Soviet

A serious accident, most likely a meltdown has happened at the Soviet nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, north of Kiev. The accident has caused a radiactive cloud that during the Sunday night and the Monday, spread over Scandinavia. 

Radioactive clouds all over Scandinavia

- The core is extremely damaged. The particles we have found shows that they have been exposed to very high temperatures, that can only be reached at nuclear meltdowns.

An initiated source tells DN this. 

By midnight, the radiation Protection Institute noted a slowly continued raise of the radioactivity in the air and on the ground. 

- At the present, we don't see that the radiation will decrease, says Torkel Bennerstedt, a spokesman for the RPI. This also means that the radiation keeps on leaking from the damaged nuclear power plant. 

The Soviet news agency TASS confirmed on Monday evening, that an accident has occurred. It's the first time that the Soviet government have admitted a nuclear breakdown. Differently from the breakdown in Harrisburg, U.S, large amounts of radioactivity has leaked out from Chernobyl. The reason is that the Soviet reactors are lacking of the solid "shell" that for example Swedish reactors have.

In many parts of Sweden, largely raised levels of radioactivity were measured during the Monday, but people's health is not at risk. 

The raised levels were first discovered in Studevik and the nuclear power plant of Forsmark, where 600 workers were evacuated. Many of the employees were very critical towards the evacuation process.

Energy minister Birgitta Dahl is however relatively pleased with how the Swedish security organization worked. Birgitta Dalh also turned to the Swedish embassy in Moscow to try to find out details about the accident. 

-It's important fo find out about the extent of the accident, and how large the risk may be for continued emissions. 

-page 6

[Note: Page 6 is coming right up]

Every day radiology

Comrades, I have updated this blog with tags, and a search box, so that you now may search for articles by using terms and tags instead of going through every post seeking for a specific subject.

This post was going to be only about the above, as I'm currently writing articles for my exhibition, but then something else came up. It's not so much about Chernobyl as it is about radiation.

415 bq by the window.

Recently, I met professor Janne Wallenius, who lent me his Gamma Scout. A Gamma Scout is nowadays probably the most commonly used popular device for measuring radiation, which was also used by my group during our Chernobyl expedition in May. I borrowed it to get a chance to learn more about how it works, and also check the readings on various places. Starting out in Gothenburg city, the average background radiation showed to be approximately 0,22 µSv/h. Returning to my home outside the city, the readings showed an average of 0,16 µSv/h, and then I went inside my house, where the readings immediately increased. I quickly realized that this must be a so called Radon house After having checked the numbers displayed over a few hours, making a note of the wide fluctuations displayed (between 0,15 and 0,32 µSv/h), I decided to switch the GS into reading bequerel instead and I'm glad I did...  

Here in Sweden, the MRL in resident buildings is 200 bq/m³ and the readings were a solid 447 bq in the middle of the room. No fluctuations. Today I measured another apartment, where the readings were even higher: 547 bq. On Monday I will contact the housing company and demand them to investigate this further, because I cant be 100% sure that these readings are  exactly what I think they are, but if they are and I was to make a point here, I'd say it's healthier to live in a house in Pripyat. 

Posters for the exhibition

Art shooting in progress.

About 1,5 months ago, I finished the painting that you could see featured in this post.

My plan was to put this painting on display on my exhibition, and in the discussions around it all, the suggestion to make posters from it came up. I found this being an excellent idea, especially as I had been warned concerning the risk of items "getting feet" at the city library, and partly for the reason that I'm not too fond of the thought of having something I've spent almost two weeks of work on stolen; partly because there was an interest in this painting, I decided to go through with it. And make posters. 

One box of posters.

I wouldn't have been able to go through with it, if it hadn't been for two good friends of mine; L-G Johansson (Sweden), who introduced me to a skilled photographer named Josef Pollak, who took great shots of a number of my paintings including this one, and Nicolas Huck in Germany who made high quality printing possible without leaving me financially broken. Great thanks to you three.

Some of these posters, measuring 42 x 53 cm, will be available for purchase at my exhibition in Gothenburg, and if there's an interest, I'll also sell them over the internet. If so, more information will follow. Also a number of posters will be donated to the National Chernobyl Museum in Kiev, which they may sell and keep all the profit to support their activity.

Bio Robot

Some neighbours wondered what I was doing

"What is this? Bio robot cosplay, or did you suddenly lose the last sense of your mind and now pretend to be a Stalker?" No, don't be alarmed - I'm too old for cosplay, and of course there is a reason for all this. 

This is a replica of the suits worn by the liquidators (Bio robots) who shoveled the radioactive graphite off the roof of Reactor 4 and it's going to be a part of my exhibition (there are protection gloves too,,that are supposed to be sealed  against the sleeves of the jacket) but unfortunately I forgot to put them on). I believe that It is fairly accurate, even though the only reference pic I had, is the one inch image of a fridge magnet I bought at the Chernobyl museum in Kiev last year, and even if I have some details wrong, at least I'll be able to tell the story behind these suits. If anyone has a comment or better images of this type of liquidator suit, feel free to write me a line.

It took me less that two days to construct this outfit, which consists of:

My fridge magnet, 5 x 8 cm.

• Simple protective jacket and trousers
• Back piece. I have no idea what the original were made of (although most likely containing lead) but this one is of rubber.
• Front piece "apron". The authentic protection should have had lead in it as well, and the only reason that I didn't put lead into this one is that I don't currently store lead at home)

 And in order to put it all together, the following was required:

• 3 meters of fabrics for the protective jacket and trousers.
• 0,50 x 0,96 meters of rubber for the back piece
• 2 meters of leather straps
• Rivets, 2 metal rings, 1 meter of waxed thread, 3 small buckles and additional leather.
• 0,70 meters of fake leather for the front piece.

The respirator is however Swedish, which will be pointed out at the exhibition.

Exhibition preparations progress

A few days ago I finished the 5 meters long banner that will be the "headline" of my exhibition at the Gothenburg City Library 29/8-19/9. Knowing that a lot of you will not have the chance of attending this exhibition, I try my best to fill you in about how my work proceeds, at the same time as I try not to reveal too much to those who will attend.

To create this, 5 meters of cotton fabrics were required; 1,2 litres of textile paint, 4 meters of adhesive plastic and a lot of patience.

General update

Distorted version of a fragment of my current work.

Friends, I'm currently working on new art to support the exhibition and also planning the next article, which will probably take a day or two to finish (well, the artwork will take longer), but don't worry - my Chernobyl project goes on and there will be many more interesting things for you to read here!

The 29th of August, 2011

...will be the opening date for my exhibition, at 

Stadsbiblioteket Göteborg  

Götaplatsen 3

402 29 Göteborg,

Sweden

More updates will follow eventually.

Exhibition

On my way back from Ukraine it suddenly struck me what I was supposed to do with these new experiences of mine. I already had quite a fair amount of knowledge about Chernobyl, Pripyat, the disaster, history and so on, but finally I had been there myself, to witness what I could, with my own eyes, and that had mad an impact rather than just an impression.

I hadn't been home for even one day, when I contacted the City Library of Gothenburg, asking them if they'd be interested in letting me have a Chernobyl exhibition and almost immediately I received a positive reply. However, I needed some additional information before I could tell them that I accept their offered premise. Today I have received that information and am OK to go. All that remains is setting a date for this exhibition.

The Chernobyl Project continues.

Introduction

This blog will be a time limited project. Having returned from Chernobyl in Ukraine, I was inspired to make an exhibition on the subject, and here you'll be able to follow my updates about it, until the exhibition takes place. But first, I'll present to you, my report from this expedition.

In case you have any questions, feel free to ask anything.