Klara and the Bomb tells of the military origins of the computer and its connections to nuclear weapons and colonialism. Through Klara von Neumann’s life, Crystal Bennes highlights women’s central yet often invisible role in this history. Photographs and archival material link science, war and the forced displacements in the Marshall Islands.
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Galleri Format is delighted to present 'Klara and the Bomb', an exhibition by Crystal Bennes.
'Klara and the Bomb' weaves together stories of the modern computer’s origins, the history of nuclear weapons, and the women who shaped both.
At its centre is Klara von Neumann, one of the first computer programmers, whose life reflects the often overlooked role of women in the development of computing and nuclear weapons during and after the Second World War.
Through field photography, archival research, declassified documents and historical images, Crystal Bennes reveals the connections between science, militarism and colonialism — from research laboratories to the displaced communities of the Marshall Islands.
Crystal Bennes is an artist and writer based in Scotland. Her practice critically examines suppressed histories, knowledge systems and power structures. Using a method that often begins with feminist reinterpretations of archival traces or myths, her way of working makes essential, often surprising, connections between science, history, capitalism, colonialism, gender and political power. She recently completed a practice-based PhD on histories of gendered representations of nature in the sciences and feminist critiques of physics.
The exhibition will run 22nd August – 28th September
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