Whitney Lynn’s Atomic Open House invites viewers to examine how the publicly staged, spectacular entertainment of atomic testing in Nevada impacted the psyche of the general population, and how the specter of this history is still omnipresent today. Fabricated to look deceptively three-dimensional, Atomic Open House takes shape as a flat, two-story, colonial-style building facade inspired by an iconic mock house constructed for 1955 test nuclear explosions.

Part roadside attraction, part-stylized film prop, and part-architectural sculpture, the facade faces pew-like viewing benches for visitors, yielding an uncanny set sited in the desert south of the Nevada National Security Site, the former government grounds for developing nuclear weapons. In this project, Lynn calls on the region’s most famed subjects—military nuclear testing, tourism, Las Vegas’s infamous replicas, and land use—and melds them into a provocative interactive installation.

. . .

Thank you to Demiurge for providing support for our rendering of Atomic Open House.