A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Yellowcake: A Performative (An)Archaeology of Uranium
Authors: Marila, Marko Mikael; Andreoletti, Tea
Editors: A. Nativ & G. Lucas
Publication year: 2025
Book title : Shadow Archaeologies: In the Shadow of Antiquity or For Other Modes of Archaeological Worldmaking
Series title: Archaeological Orientations
First page : 164
Last page: 182
ISBN: 978-1-032-64447-9
eISBN: 978-1-032-64444-8
Tea Andreoletti’s participatory performance YELLOWCAKE collectively evokes the memories of a 1970s anti-uranium mining movement in the Alta Valle Seriana, the valley of the artist’s hometown in northern Italy. The performance reflects on resource exploitation and forms of resistance through the preparation of a communal feast featuring polenta, a traditional dish from northern Italy that resembles uranium yellow cake. In 2023, Marko Marila and Tea Andreoletti collaborated for an instalment of YELLOWCAKE at the ANTI Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio, Finland. The collaboration fostered multi-layered discussions, incorporating diverse perspectives, historical contexts, and interpretations. This conversation article reflects on how, through a combination of artistic and (an)archaeological practice, the memories of anti-uranium mining activism in Italy and Finland were collectively explored in the context of a contemporary art festival.