Opytnoe Pole, Kazakhstan (Nuclear Test Site #36)

Ursula Schulz-Dornburg is known for her black-and-white photographs of the ancient and contemporary built environment, highlighting the strange presence of certain structures in otherwise everyday landscapes. These and nearby photographs focus on a complex in what is now Kazakhstan, which the Soviet Union built in the 1950s to test the destructive impact of their nuclear weapons. Decades after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, these facilities have been heavily looted, leaving only naked structures in a surreal and radioactive landscape.