Hong Kong new media collective XCEED visualizes the radiation pollution present in our cities

Hong Kong new media collective XCEED recently brought their RadianceScape Live! project to Poland’s PatchLab Festival. RadianceScape Live! is an audiovisual performance that builds on XCEED’s original RadianceScape installation piece. Conceptualized by XCEED founder Zhang Hanqian (a.k.a. h0nh1m), the project is a live audiovisual display of radiation levels from major cities across the world, which uses data sourced from Safecast.org, a website that aggregates global radioactivity data. By comparing the radiation levels of major cities, such as New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Paris, to the nuclear disaster zones of Chernobyl and Fukushima, the project hopes to bring greater awareness to the issue of global radiation pollution.

不久前，香港新媒体团队XCEED带着新作《辐射界–现场！》去到PatchLab Festival 波兰站。《辐射界–现场！》是他们之前的装置艺术作品《辐射界》全新衍生出的现场表演版本。XCEED创作主脑张瀚谦（又名h0nh1m）将无形的辐射线可视化，他从Safecast.org（一个收集与共享全球核辐射数据的传感器网络）搜集全球各大城市的核辐射数据，再把他们变成光线和声音，进行实时的视觉影像创作。通过激光勒出纽约、东京、香港、柏林等大城市的辐射样貌，并和核辐射重灾区切尔诺贝利及福岛做对比，希望提高大众对于核灾的认知与关注度，审视遍布全球的辐射问题。

RadianceScape started as a digital visualization of radiation levels and city contours. According to Zhang, the project was initially inspired by the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami. In 2014, Zhang spent half a year doing an artist residency in Japan, and during that time, he spoke with local residents to understand their reactions to the disaster and subsequent radiation pollution. After the 2011 earthquake, dire amounts of nuclear runoff from Fukushima flooded into the Pacific Ocean, contaminating ocean life and creating an environmental crisis. To this day, Japan has been unable to come up with an effective cleanup resolution. During the bid for the upcoming Olympic Games, the Japanese government’s official stance was that they had resolved the crisis. In an effort to appease local residents, the government implemented tests and measurement centers across Fukushima to collect data on radiation levels. However, data from the official measurements would differ from data collected by international media and environmental agencies, causing widespread allegations of a government coverup.

《辐射界》是一个以伽玛射线勾勒出城市轮廓的虚拟空间，张瀚谦告诉我们，作品的创作契机来自于2011年于日本福岛所发生的311地震。2014年的时候，他花了半年住在日本做艺术家交换项目。在那期间，他感受到当地居民对地震的看法，尤其是对辐射的恐惧。地震后，高放射性的核废水大量流入太平洋，不断污染整个海洋生态，更破坏了整个食物链。在日本申奥期间，政府不断发布新闻，强调已解决辐射问题，并在福岛公共区域设立一些检测并显示辐射数据的装置，试图借此来安抚市民。然而，这些数据和一些外国传媒或环保机构发布的数据却有着相当大的差异，核污染是否真正被处理妥当，政府是否掩盖了真实的污染情况，许多人仍对此充满疑问。

After returning to Hong Kong, Zhang began work on RadianceScape project. The Safecast system, which was created by a group of volunteers after the Fukushima crisis, would provide the data that would be used for the project. Retranslating the data to laser and sounds, Zhang and his team created a new and stimulating way to present information that would bring attention to the current state of radiation pollution across the world. The RadianceScape installation featured red and green laser lights scanning across visualizations of Chernobyl and Fukushima, two of the world’s most infamous nuclear disaster zones. The visuals would be accompanied by sound design that included tonal drone ambiance and noises that correspond to the different levels of radioactivity.

回到香港后，张瀚谦和他的团队开始着手创作《辐射界》，他们通过SAFECAST仪器侦测各地的辐射指数，（SAFECAST是全球网络侦测与分享辐射数据的平台，由一群义工自「311」大地震后成立，旨在能快速收集并公开各地的辐射数据。）再将数据转化为激光装置和声音装置，打破沉闷的数据表现形式。作品中，红绿色的扫描激光快速地在切尔诺贝利与福岛——两个曾发生过重大核灾难的地区景观图上来回切割，并发出“滋滋滋”的焦虑噪音。

张瀚谦带着safecast仪器收集当地的辐射数据

Radiation data uploaded to Safecast.org by volunteers 志愿者们将收集到的辐射数据上传到Safecast.org

“The ‘-scape’ in RadianceScape refers to landscapes. To visualize radiation in these cities, we first used electronic landscapes to display the structures of the cities. The higher the radiation levels became, the harder it would be to see the underlying structures of the cities,” Zhang explains. Ultimately, he hopes this project can raise awareness and allow people to better understand the issue of radiation pollution. “The issues with nuclear energy have always existed. We should begin a discussion on whether or not this source of energy is even necessary. We have a lot of options aside from nuclear energy.”

See below for a snippet of their live performance.

“《辐射界》的英文名字是 Radiance Scape，scape即是代表landscape。我们希望以辐射勾勒城市景貌，所以背景以电子地图中的立体街景方式呈现。作品内辐射率愈高，就愈难看见城市原来的面貌。” 视觉呈现的背后，张瀚谦希望启发观众更深入关注核污染问题，“核能问题一直衍生。我们需讨论核能是否必要之需？人类仍有很多选择，不一定需要核能源。”

进一步了解《辐射界–现场！》，点击下方视频观看吧。