On nuclear pasts
and radiant futures
Logo: SALT.CLAY.ROCK.
Artistic research
and exhibition

Exhibition research display object 3: Tapestry

24/12/09

This embroidery is from the village museum in Bátaapáti, which preserves objects reflecting the traditional material culture of the area. We encountered it during our first curatorial research trip in January 2023, where we learned about the history of the once thriving German minority village. The German-speaking settlers who came to Hungary in the 18th century are also known as the “Donauschwaben" (Danube Swabians). The roughly translated text reads: "If life’s path clouds your view, look up to heaven. Let people be people, only God can help."

Loan source: Village Museum of Bátaapáti

The simplicity of this saying resonates deeply with the history of Bátaapáti, a place marked by trauma and loss of its German-speaking inhabitants. The phrase "let people be people," when understood as an acknowledgment of the inescapability of human nature, gains additional meaning when considering the village’s recent history. Its choice to host a nuclear repository for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste reflects the village’s economic reality, in which short-term financial benefits from this arrangement were understood as crucial for its survival. Ideally, such a decision would be preceded by the villagers' engagement with unimaginable timescales and forms of responsibility that transcend individual lives, a challenge that historian Dipesh Chakrabarty identifies as central to the Anthropocene. Humans, he notes, are biologically and culturally conditioned to prioritize the present or the near future, making it difficult to take decisions with distant and unknown consequences. The embroidery, with its mixture of resignation and trust, echoes the delicate balance between immediate human needs and long-term consequences that continues to shape Bátaapáti’s fate.