Join us in conversation as we step into the chilling world of the bomb, an immersive art installation by filmmaker Smriti Keshari and writer Eric Schlosser. Combining archival footage, animation, and a powerful electronic score by The Acid, this multimedia experience examines America’s—and humanity’s—dangerous entanglement with nuclear weapons. Inspired by the claustrophobia of missile silos and command centers, the exhibit envelopes audiences in a circular, floor-to-ceiling bank of screens interspersed with exposed wiring and circuit boards. Described as “stunning…unique and dazzling” by Entertainment Weekly and “an abstract wonder” by the New York Observer, the bomb exposes the fragility and fallibility of the systems designed to manage these weapons, inviting reflection on their continued presence in our world.
CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTISTS: filmmaker Smriti Keshari and writer Eric Schlosser join in conversation at the Chan Centre’s RBC Theatre Jan 16 at 6:30pm for a talk about the bomb exhibit. Tickets available here.
ART INSTALLATION: the bomb exhibit kicks off the 2025 Phil Lind Initiative series and can be visited any time during opening hours of the AHVA gallery (12-4pm, Tue-Fri) from January 7–30. You can also join in for the gallery exhibit opening with artists on January 15 from 5-7pm at the AHVA Gallery.
Eric Schlosser is a writer and filmmaker. His book Command and Control, a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in History, describes the challenges of managing America’s nuclear arsenal. His book Fast Food Nation (2001) helped to launch the modern food movement. Smriti Keshari is an acclaimed Indian-American director and is an artist-in-residence at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the National Theatre in London.
Presented by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs in partnership with the Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.