GREEN MEADOW

The name of the project originates from the term used in Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant Green Meadow, which describes the ultimate aim of its decommissioning process: to wipe out the huge architectural structure of both nuclear units as well as all auxiliary facilities, and to replace everything with flora typical to the region,  completely erasing any signs of the existence of the plant. 

Green Meadow represents a new future, a utopian place free of industrial remains and the dangers of nuclear energy, offering instead a possibility of a fresh start, a chance to build new, more sustainable structures. But equally so, it can manifest a sense of emptiness left within the plant’s 5000 (former) employees, and within the 20.000 inhabitants of Visaginas, a city built with the sole purpose of supporting the plant. It also raises a single most important question: what, if anything at all, will take place on the green meadow when the plant ceases to exist? 

The project raises, of course, many other questions, and by encouraging citizens of Visaginas to answer them, we also want to direct the same questions to our audience. How does it feel to be forced to destroy and remove something you have created? How do people deal with this loss? How does a city change when it loses its “mother”, the lodestone of its identity? How can places and people create new visions that address both past and present conditions, carving out livable and hopeful lives?