Can an image help heal a pain that has been festering for decades?

BilbaoPhotographer Ixone Sádaba (Bilbao, 1977) has arrived at Azkuna Centroa in Bilbao with a striking proposal. The exhibition on the failed Lemoiz nuclear power plant begins with ten full-scale projections of the building's ruins, as the exhibition's title suggests. Scale 1:1Construction of Lemoiz began in 1972, and to prevent it from becoming operational, amidst a wave of popular protests, ETA murdered five project managers and workers. Two more people died in this anti-nuclear conflict.

Construction was later permanently halted following the nuclear moratorium decreed by the Spanish government in 1984, and the debate over what to do with the building remains ongoing. "One of the things I propose is that we shouldn't turn our backs on Lemoiz, but rather observe it, observe our past, our present, and our future," says Ixone Sádaba. "It's about observing the way we relate to the world and to things," explains the artist. "Ultimately, it's a way of looking that's not contemplative but cognitive, being aware of what we see, as is the case with the photographic exercise itself."

Sádaba speaks of Lemoiz, emphasizing the "respect" he feels for the dead left behind by the works, and says that placing the central concrete millstone inside an exhibition hall is an attempt to limit all the pain behind it, and to make the museum participate in the "most important debates."

Sádaba was seven years old when Lemoiz's work was interrupted, and the power plant was left in the back of his mind. During the COVID pandemic, he found it again on a motorcycle ride and decided he wanted to dive in. "The only story that had transcended was that of the conflict, but there are many other things in Lemoiz, including the fact that the access is closed, the advance of vegetation, the Anthropocene, and the question of the staircase, which is not contemporary, but typical of a medieval castle, an imperial staircase. I can't cover all the topics. debate," says the artist.

For the exhibition's curator, critic and professor Carles Guerra, Lemoiz functions as "a time capsule." "From the moment construction began in 1972 until 1984, the plant absorbed layers of history, and recently the plants have made it their own. There's always the fear of opening this time capsule and discovering details of the past that are somehow painful," says Guerra.

After returning to the plant, Sádaba applied for a BBVA Leonardo grant to continue the search. Despite being awarded the grant, he had to wait six months to access it. In the meantime, he reviewed the archive of some 7,000 photographs of the works held by Iberdrola, some of which are on display. "It's very important that the project involved producing new images, but also interpreting images from the past," says the curator.

Violent interventions in natural spaces

Sometimes photography isn't enough for Sádaba, and he uses other elements to delve deeper into the subject he's addressing. "Otherwise, they are completely disconnected from the environment they come from," explains the artist. You can also see a reproduction, with a somewhat disturbing air, of the viewing platform built so that the Count of Cadagua, Pedro Careaga, could observe the progress of the works. "These objects may seem like simple politicians, but in reality, they are objects with a purpose."

The tour ends with another series of large-format projections, now made with images of the exterior.