The Dud Effect

Abandoned Soviet nuclear rocket launch bases form the subject of The Dud Effect. A base like this existed in Lithuania and was closed down back in 1977, but the underground catacomb structure is still impressive in scale and scope. Deimantas Narkevičius found a few people who served there and who provided him with all technical and particular information on the way it used to be run.

Narkevičius' basic idea was to stage a rocket launch from the site featuring the exact protocol of commands used. Fortunately, such a thing never happened during the period of the Cold War, but in light of recent political conflicts between the West and the East (including Russia), the horror of a possible nuclear weapon confrontation – which we thought was gone – is rising from the past.

Kadist Art Foundation