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Alena Halmes

@alena.halmes

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22.05 - 20.09 Museum Gestaltung Zürich
17.-25.10 Microstad, DDW
17.- 25.10 Klokgebouw, DDW
04.11 - 04.12 residency @rong_design_library
📷@halmeskobel

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come say hi and see my project nuclear hubris !

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graduation project @contextualdesign.dae on view:
📍microstad, dutch design week 2026, @designacademyeindhoven GS26
17.-25. october
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Swiss law allows nuclear power only if its waste can be safely stored. For more than fifty years, the state-appointed company Nagra has searched for a material capable of containing radioactive waste, eventually selecting Opalinus clay, a Jurassic-era mudstone, for its sealing properties. Nagra’s proposal to bury high-level radioactive waste 800 metres underground for at least one million years is the starting point for ‘Nuclear Hubris’.  The installation brings together a tower of paper representing Nagra’s 30,000-page application, a series of imprecise measuring devices and a replica of a spent fuel rod made from excavated Opalinus clay. Together, these objects question the pursuit of absolute certainty in nuclear waste management and the belief that technological control can permanently contain its toxic legacy.

picture: Alena Halmes by @alena.halmes

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Nuclear hubris
fieldtrip photo by @alena.halmes

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nuclear hubris

Swiss law allows nuclear power only if its waste can be safely stored. For more than fifty years, the state-appointed company Nagra has searched for a material capable of containing radioactive waste, eventually selecting Opalinus clay, a Jurassic-era mudstone, for its sealing properties. Nagra’s proposal to bury high-level radioactive waste 800 metres underground for at least one million years is the starting point for ‘Nuclear Hubris’.  The installation brings together a tower of paper representing Nagra’s 30,000-page application, a series of imprecise measuring devices and a replica of a spent fuel rod made from excavated Opalinus clay. Together, these objects question the pursuit of absolute certainty in nuclear waste management and the belief that technological control can permanently contain its toxic legacy. by @alena.halmes

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30'000 Seiten Papier. Gestapelt ergibt das einen Turm von rund 3 Metern

So viele Seiten umfasst das Rahmenbewilligungsgesuch für das Tiefenlager, das wir 2024 eingereicht haben. Alena Halmes hat diesen Turm gebaut. Er ist Teil ihrer Kunstinstallation «Nuclear Hubris», ihre Masterarbeit an der Design Academy Eindhoven.

Alena Halmes fragte sich: Wie gehen wir mit dem Abfall um, den wir erzeugen? Für ihre Recherche besuchte sie das Haberstal (der Ort, wo der Zugang zum Tiefenlager gebaut werden soll), das Bohrkernarchiv in Mellingen und das Felslabor Mont Terri. Sie sprach mit Personen von der Nagra, aber auch mit den NGOs «LoTi» und mit «Stadel aktiv». Am Ende wollte sie wissen, wie sie selbst zum Thema steht.

Ihr Ergebnis: «Es ist kompliziert.»

Die Installation hat drei Elemente:
- den genannten Papierturm
- ein Brennelement aus 80 Kilogramm Opalinuston
- vier Messgeräte aus Alu-Guss, die Dimensionen des Risikos zeigen sollen: Chronologie, Gefahr, Toxizität und die moralisch-politische Position

Drei der vier Zeiger bewegen sich auf einem Spektrum. Der Zeiger der Toxizität nicht: Radioaktiver Abfall bleibt über sehr lange Zeit giftig. Der Zeiger des moralisch-politischen Diskurses springt hin und her. Er steht für die gesellschaftliche Debatte, für den Anspruch an Sicherheit, den Zeitdruck, die Verantwortung gegenüber künftigen Generationen und die demokratische Legitimation.

Alena Halmes’ Erkenntnis: Aus keiner Perspektive, ob wissenschaftlich, ethisch, geologisch oder politisch, gibt es eine absolute Lösung. Trotzdem bleibt sie optimistisch: «Unsere Zukunft ist toxisch, aber wir sollten nicht die Hoffnung verlieren, dass wir aus den toxischen Überresten Neues, Schönes bilden können.»

📍 «Nuclear Hubris» ist vom 17. bis 24. Oktober 2026 an der Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven zu sehen.

#DutchDesignWeek Portrait der Designerin Alena Halmes. Sie hat die Kunstinstallation Nuclear Hubris gestaltet. Auf dem Bild ist ein Zitat von ihr: «Egal aus welcher Perspektive ich die Entsorgung des radioaktiven Abfalls betrachte, es gibt keine absolute Lösung» by @alena.halmes

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nuclear hubris

Swiss law allows nuclear power only if its waste can be safely stored. For more than fifty years, the state-appointed company Nagra has searched for a material capable of containing radioactive waste, eventually selecting Opalinus clay, a Jurassic-era mudstone, for its sealing properties. Nagra’s proposal to bury high-level radioactive waste 800 metres underground for at least one million years is the starting point for ‘Nuclear Hubris’.  The installation brings together a tower of paper representing Nagra’s 30,000-page application, a series of imprecise measuring devices and a replica of a spent fuel rod made from excavated Opalinus clay. Together, these objects question the pursuit of absolute certainty in nuclear waste management and the belief that technological control can permanently contain its toxic legacy. by @alena.halmes

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This series of photos is part of my thesis book ‘nuclear hubris’

In january 2026 I visited the testsite for nuclear waste storage in St. Ursanne. (Jura, Switzerland) The pictures show their measuring procedures, the prototype of a storage tunnel.

I visited the site with regisseur Nina Halpern and their theatregroup. In their piece ‘Au clair de la lune’ (shown in Südpol, Luzern, 2025) they have asked the question:
How to communicate to future generations to not open nuclear waste storages? by @alena.halmes

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40 plates later this production comes to an end taken in Design Academy Eindhoven by @alena.halmes

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Today opens the exhibition in microstad, Eindhoven featuring my work ‘nuclear hubris’.

Swiss law allows nuclear power only if its waste can be safely stored. For more than fifty years, the state-appointed company Nagra has searched for a material capable of containing radioactive waste, eventually selecting Opalinus clay, a Jurassic-era mudstone, for its sealing properties. Nagra’s proposal to bury high-level radioactive waste 800 metres underground for at least one million years is the starting point for ‘Nuclear Hubris’.  The installation brings together a tower of paper representing Nagra’s 30,000-page application, a series of imprecise measuring devices and a replica of a spent fuel rod made from excavated Opalinus clay. Together, these objects question the pursuit of absolute certainty in nuclear waste management and the belief that technological control can permanently contain its toxic legacy. by @alena.halmes

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nuclear hubris

Swiss law allows nuclear power only if its waste can be safely stored. For more than fifty years, the state-appointed company Nagra has searched for a material capable of containing radioactive waste, eventually selecting Opalinus clay, a Jurassic-era mudstone, for its sealing properties. Nagra’s proposal to bury high-level radioactive waste 800 metres underground for at least one million years is the starting point for ‘Nuclear Hubris’.  The installation brings together a tower of paper representing Nagra’s 30,000-page application, a series of imprecise measuring devices and a replica of a spent fuel rod made from excavated Opalinus clay. Together, these objects question the pursuit of absolute certainty in nuclear waste management and the belief that technological control can permanently contain its toxic legacy. by @alena.halmes

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Grenzwerte

collaboration @edenisnow by @alena.halmes

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Grenzwerte
gammus fossarum melting

collaboration with @edenisnow by @alena.halmes

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Grenzwerte speaks about how Switzerland defines treshholds, what interest are hidden behind and how water protection is being loosend. We specifically talk about deltamethrin, where a threshold was recommended in spring 2025 but Alber Rösti denied to introduce the treshhold in November 2025, with the argument that there is no alternative for the potato production.

A drop of deltamethrin is enough and insects in water streams die.

Collaboration @edenisnow taken in Basel by @alena.halmes

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