Safety Report

The primary source of inspiration for Slovak photographer Zuzana Pustaiová’s projects is her surroundings and the relationships that arise from them. She grew up near a nuclear power plant and has therefore long been concerned with the issue of nuclear safety. She realized long ago that it is practically impossible to assess this issue objectively from publicly available sources, because the media, experts, political representatives, and environmental NGOs often provide biased opinions based on power interests or personal ideologies. The title of the project, “Safety Report,” thus ironically refers to an indistinguishable mixture of opinions based on intuition, assumptions, emotional statements, and even false information with factual knowledge, which ultimately cause fear and concern among the public. In a broader sense, her artistic research reflects on the role of institutional reliability and responsible reporting in the post-factual era. This formally diverse project, which includes original, archival, and manipulated photographs and videos, as well as extensive text material, was presented at the prestigious Les Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles photography festival as part of this year’s Discovery Award.

curator: Branislav Štěpánek



The exhibition was supported using public funding by the Slovak Arts Council.