Whitney Lynn: Atomic Open House 

Production | Exhibition Grant

Whitney Lynn’s Atomic Open House invites viewers to examine how the publicly staged, spectacular entertainment of atomic testing in Nevada impacted the psyche of the general population, and how the specter of this history is still omnipresent today. The installation reinterprets two architectural elements associated with atmospheric nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site (now known as the Nevada National Security Site/NNSS) in the 1950s: the Apple-2 house, a wood-frame Colonial-style home built to observe how a typical American house might withstand a nuclear explosion, and VIP viewing benches where invited observers watched detonations from close range.

Atomic Open House recreates versions of the structures outside the Site’s gates, consisting of a trompe l’oeil façade modeled on the Apple-2 House and a set of viewing benches positioned at the precise vantage point needed to produce the illusion. From the benches, the facade appears deceptively three-dimensional; from other angles, its flat construction and supporting armature become visible. Part roadside attraction, part stylized film prop, and part architectural sculpture, Atomic Open House sits in Beatty, Nevada—one of the closest towns to the NNSS, and a community where residents still remember watching the tests and feeling their impacts. Drawing on archival research, local stories, and site visits, Lynn’s project sets the stage for reflection on land use, environmental risk, and the ways architecture, media, and entertainment have shaped public perceptions of nuclear arms development and military presence in the American West.

For more information, visit https://blackcube.art/atomic-open-house