Between Fires: Irradiated Imaginations and Anti-Nuclear Solidarities. Graphic design by Ayym Zhaishylyk. 13 Feb –
17 May 2026
Exhibition: Between Fires – Irradiated Imaginations & Anti-Nuclear Solidarities
From 13 February to 17 May 2026, Framer Framed presents the exhibition Between Fires: Irradiated Imaginations and Anti-Nuclear Solidarities, curated by writer and researcher Fabienne Rachmadiev and presented in partnership with Sonic Acts as part of Sonic Acts Biennial 2026.
The exhibition traces the intertwined histories of nuclear infrastructures, colonialism and resistance, beginning in the Northern Kazakh steppe around Semey, which the Soviet Union used for their nuclear programme between 1948 and 1991, causing long-lasting effects of pollution and radiation of water, land, humans and non-human animals.
Behind the geopolitical, financial and militarised structures of the atom, lie the lifeworlds of those directly affected by the cycle of mining uranium to detonating and testing nuclear weapons, turning bodies and lands into storage sites of nuclear waste. Compounded by radiation’s famed invisibility, the carefully constructed invisibility of nuclear infrastructures serves as a double erasure, complicating solidarity and cooperation between affected people and territories.
The historical Nevada-Semey anti-nuclear movement sought to undo precisely this obscuring by uniting affected communities from Kazakhstan and the United States, successfully ending Soviet nuclear testing in 1989. In a particularly moving gesture, this anti-nuclear uprising saw hundreds of people walking together between two pillars of fire, an ancient purification ritual, harnessed to repair radiation’s damage to the steppe.
The exhibition at Framer Framed seeks to renew this transnational intention of anti-nuclear movements, by connecting irradiated lifeworlds through new and existing poetic, visual, and sonic art, featuring works by artists including buulbuul, Demian DinéYazhi’, Inas Halabi, Äsel Kadyrkhanova, Dilyara Kaipova, Almagul Menlibayeva, Kamila Narysheva & Vicky Clarke, Roger Peet, and Emilija Škarnulytė, as well as research presentations by Kamila Smagulova (Leiden University) and the International Institute of Social History (IISG) – testifying to the temporalities and spatialities of nuclear colonialism across various geographies.
The exhibition features two new works by buulbuul and Äsel Kadyrkhanova, co-commissioned by Framer Framed and Sonic Acts. buulbuul’s project The Burial of a Brown Goose is both an installation and performance, tracing lifelines from regions in Kazakhstan scarred by nuclear testing and radiation, focusing on human and more-than-human interaction in the midst of genocide and colonial violence. Äsel Kadyrkhanova’s Nükte consists of a video-animation and large-scale drawing installation that reflects on the incognisability of landscape, specifically the landscape marked by the presence of radiation.
Register here and join the opening on 13 February.
Participating Artists
buulbuul (Haider Timur & yourfriendkas)
Demian DinéYazhi’
Inas Halabi
Äsel Kadyrkhanova
Dilyara Kaipova
Almagul Menlibayeva
Kamila Narysheva & Vicky Clarke
Emilija Škarnulytė
Roger Peet
Curator
Fabienne Rachmadiev
Research Presentations
Kamila Smagulova
International Institute of Social History – IISG (Mathijs Boom, Reina Borst and Rose Spijkerman)
Spatial Design
Bureau LADA
Graphic Design
Ayym Zhaishylyk
Location
Framer Framed
Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71
1093KS, Amsterdam
Opening Times
13 February – 31 March: Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 20:00
1 April – 17 May: Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00 – 18:00
Opening
13 February from 19:00 to 21:00. Register here.
Free entry, pay what you can.
Credits
Between Fires: Irradiated Imaginations and Anti-Nuclear Solidarities is curated by Fabienne Rachmadiev. The exhibition is commissioned and produced by Framer Framed and presented in partnership with Sonic Acts as part of Sonic Acts Biennial 2026.
Graphic design inspired by the purification ritual in Karaul, Kazakhstan, 6 August, 1989, depicted in Nevada i Semipalatinsk (1989), dir. Sergey Shafir, Kazakhfilm.
Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; Municipality of Amsterdam; and VriendenLoterij Fonds.
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Diaspora / Ecology / Extractivism / Migration /
Agenda
Guided Tour & Performance: Between Fires
A guided tour of Between Fires, an exhibition tracing the intertwined histories of nuclear infrastructures, colonialism and resistance
Roundtable: Nuclear Histories and Protest Movements
A discursive evening on the role of art and culture in anti-nuclear resistance and solidarity movements
Film Programme at Het Documentaire Paviljoen: Gendered Lives in the Aftermath of Toxicity
A film programme and public lecture addressing the intergenerational impact and slow violence of nuclear colonialism from a gender-focused perspective
Screening at Het Documentaire Paviljoen: AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB
Screening of AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB, a film investigating the layered and unsettling histories surrounding the Salton Sea in Southern California
Artist Talk: Roger Peet
Conversation with artist Roger Peet about his work Dig Up The Sun, on display in the exhibition Between Fires
Opening Between Fires: Irradiated Imaginations and Anti-Nuclear Solidarities
Opening of Between Fires, featuring a performance by buulbuul
Network
Kamila Smagulova
Demian DinéYazhi'
Artist, Writer and Curator
Emilija Škarnulytė
Artist and Filmmaker
Kamila Narysheva
Artist, Curator and Writer
Vicky Clarke
Artist
Almagul Menlibayeva
Artist
Dilyara Kaipova
Artist
buulbuul
Music and Performance Duo
Inas Halabi
Artist and Filmmaker
Roger Peet
Artist
Lada Hršak
Architect and researcher
Äsel Kadyrkhanova
Artist and Researcher
yourfriendkas
Artist and Researcher
Haider Timur
Graphic Designer and Artist
