Ban the Bomb

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize exhibition is called Ban the Bomb and offers a reflection on the human experience with nuclear weapons in the past and in the present. In its justification for awarding ICAN the prize, the Nobel Committee wrote that, “We live in a world where the danger of nuclear weapons is greater than it has been for a long time. Atomic weapons pose a constant threat to humanity and all life on earth.”

Through sound, photos and artefacts, the audience is given a special experience of the enormity of the nuclear threat. In the exhibition, the audience is also taken back to the disaster when the atomic bombs hit Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Personal belongings of victims of the 1945 nuclear bombs are presented for the first time in Northern Europe.

The belongings are presented alongside unique photographs by this year’s Peace Prize photographer, internationally acclaimed visual artist Sim Chi Yin. Her photo series Fallout shows how today’s nuclear treat is visible in the landscape of two of the world’s nuclear powers. On commission for the Nobel Peace Center, Sim Chi Yin travelled along the border of Norh Korea and across six American states to photograph for the Nobel Peace Prize exhibition.

I set out to create a series of images pairing the landscapes of North Korea with those of the United States – which are the only country to test nuclear weapons in the 21st Century and the only country to use them. I found some interesting, uncanny parallels, which led me to reflect on the human experience with nuclear weapons, past and present. Given the current global worries over the recent North Korean missile tests, and the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington, it feels particularly timely to reflect on this issue

-Sim Chi Yin, photographer

The exhibition is also a manifestation of hope, and through showcasing the work against nuclear weapons, focusing on ICAN’s groundbreaking efforts to put in place an international ban on nuclear weapons. In the exhibition, we also invite the audience to join the fight against nuclear weapons.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize exhibition is the thirteenth consequential Nobel Peace Prize exhibition since the opening of the Nobel Peace Center in 2005. It was opened by the Nobel Peace Prize laureaute ICAN, represented by its international leader Beatrice Fihn, on December 11, 2017. It is open to the public until the end of November 2018. The exhibition is designed by Christine Lohre.

The exhibition is supported by the City of Oslo.