Atomic Bats
Ystlumod Atomig

A new project by Seán Vicary, co-produced by Animate Projects, in partnership with Oriel Davies, Newtown, Atomic Bats will explore the experience of living in a time of climate crisis and mass-extinction, refracted through an exploration of a particular place and landscape – the Rhydymwyn Valley in North Wales.

In 1940, the German Jewish scientist Rudolf Peierls and his assistant Klaus Fuchs established themselves in Building P6 at the Rhydymwyn Valley Works in North Wales to supervise the production of Uranium 235, the isotope used in the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. Atomic Bats will reveal and share this history, and how it informs and resonates with what this place means for people living there now.

This in turn acts as a point of departure to explore notions of interconnectedness and interdependence, in collaboration with ecological philosopher Timothy Morton.

Bronwen Lloyd Jones, former vocalist in the seminal anarcho-punk band Crass, will contribute spoken word and vocal improvisation to the soundtrack.

Atomic Bats will have its premiere exhibition at Oriel Davies Gallery in autumn 2025, and then tour to venues across Wales and in England.

Atomic Bats is supported by Arts Council of Wales and Arts Council England.

Seán was selected for Parts & Labour, the second Animate OPEN exhibition at QUAD, Derby, in 2016, which toured to Oriel Davies.  We also previously worked with him on Lament (2011), and Re-Tolled (2013) for Channel 4’s Random Acts.

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Seán is based in Cardigan, West Wales. He works across moving image, animation and digital media, exploring ideas at the heart of our relationships with place, landscape, and the ‘natural’ world, revealing links between subjective, scientific and social histories, and our lives today. He has exhibited in Wales, the UK, and internationally. He won the Gold Medal for Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2022.

Timothy Morton is Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University, Houston. They have collaborated with Björk, Laurie Anderson, Adam McKay, Olafur Eliasson, Jennifer Walshe and Ben Rivers. Morton co-wrote and appears in Living in the Future’s Past, a 2018 film about global warming with Jeff Bridges. They have written over 20 books, including Hyperobjects, The Ecological Thought and Dark Ecology. Their latest book Hell: in Search of a Christian Ecology was published in June 2024.

Musician and artist Bronwen Lloyd Jones AKA Eve Libertine was co-lead vocalist in the seminal anarcho-punk band Crass. She has continued to develop her visceral, vocal experimentation through performance and recording. Her latest album ‘I am that Tempest’ was released via Caliban Sounds in July 2024.

Oriel Davies, Newtown was founded 1982 and is a key public art gallery of Wales, based in Newtown, rural Powys, presenting thought-provoking and challenging art by national and international artists.

Prosiect newydd gan Seán Vicary, a gyd-gynhyrchwyd gan Animate Projects, mewn partneriaeth ag Oriel Davies, Y Drenewydd, bydd Ystlumod Atomig yn archwilio’r profiad o fyw mewn cyfnod o argyfwng hinsawdd a difodiant torfol, wedi’i blygu trwy archwiliad o le a thirwedd arbennig – yng Nghwm Rhydymwyn yng Ngogledd Cymru.

Ym 1940, sefydlodd y gwyddonydd Iddewig Almaeneg Rudolf Peierls a’i gynorthwyydd Klaus Fuchs eu hunain yn Adeilad P6 yng Ngwaith Cwm Rhydymwyn yng Ngogledd Cymru i oruchwylio cynhyrchu Wraniwm 235, yr isotop a ddefnyddiwyd yn fom niwclear Hiroshima. Bydd Ystlumod Atomig yn datgelu ac yn rhannu’r hanes hwn, a sut mae’n llywio ac yn atseinio beth mae’r lle hwn yn ei olygu i bobl sy’n byw yno nawr.

Mae hyn yn ei dro yn gweithredu fel pwynt ymadael i archwilio syniadau o ryng-gysylltedd a chyd-ddibyniaeth, mewn cydweithrediad â’r athronydd ecolegol Timothy Morton. Bydd Bronwen Lloyd Jones, cyn-leisydd y band anarcho-pync arloesol Crass, yn cyfrannu at y gair llafar a byrfyfyr lleisiol i’r trac sain.

Bydd Ystlumod Atomig yn cael ei harddangosfa gyntaf yn Oriel Davies yn hydref 2025, ac yna’n teithio i leoliadau ledled Cymru a Lloegr.

Cefnogir Ystlumod Atomig gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru a Arts Council England.

Dewiswyd Seán ar gyfer Parts & Labour, yr ail arddangosfa Animate OPEN yn QUAD, Derby, yn 2016, a aeth ar daith i Oriel Davies. Buom hefyd yn gweithio gydag ef yn flaenorol ar Lament (2011), a Re-Tolled (2013) ar gyfer Random Acts Channel 4.

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Mae Seán wedi ei leoli yn Aberteifi, Gorllewin Cymru. Mae’n gweithio ar draws delweddau symudol, animeiddio a chyfryngau digidol, gan archwilio syniadau sydd wrth wraidd ein perthynas â lle, tirwedd, a’r byd ‘naturiol’, gan ddatgelu cysylltiadau rhwng hanesion goddrychol, gwyddonol a chymdeithasol, a’n bywydau heddiw. Mae wedi arddangos yng Nghymru, y DU, ac yn rhyngwladol. Enillodd Fedal Aur Celfyddyd Gain yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru 2022.

Timothy Morton yw Cadair Rita Shea Guffey mewn Saesneg ym Mhrifysgol Rice, Houston. Maent wedi cydweithio â Björk, Laurie Anderson, Adam McKay, Olafur Eliasson, Jennifer Walshe a Ben Rivers. Cyd-hysgrifennodd ac ymddangosodd Morton yn Living in the Future’s Past, ffilm 2018 am gynhesu byd-eang gyda Jeff Bridges. Maent wedi ysgrifennu dros 20 o lyfrau, gan gynnwys Hyperobjects, The Ecological Thought a Dark Ecology. Cyhoeddwyd eu llyfr diweddaraf Hell: in Search of a Christian Ecology ym mis Mehefin 2024.

Bu’r cerddor a’r artist Bronwen Lloyd Jones AKA Eve Libertine yn gyd-brif leisydd y band anarcho-pync arloesol Crass. Parhawyd i ddatblygu ei harbrofion gweledol, lleisiol trwy berfformio a recordio. Rhyddhawyd ei halbwm diweddaraf ‘I am that Tempest’ trwy Caliban Sounds ym mis Gorffennaf 2024.

Mae Oriel Davies yn oriel gelf gyhoeddus allweddol yng Nghymru, wedi’i lleoli yn Drenewydd, Powys wledig.  Cyflwynir celf o safon fyd-eang, sy’n procio’r meddwl ac yn heriol gan artistiaid cenedlaethol a rhyngwladol.