How To Make a Bomb

In the summer of 2023, artist Gabriella Hirst and curator Warren Harper collaborated with Lovely Umayam and Tammy Nguyen to bring “How to Make A Bomb” to the United States. 

How to Make a Bomb is a durational gardening project started by Hirst, as a way to  examine the structural connections between horticulture, state power, and nuclear colonialism. The project centers on a rare species of garden rose, the Rosa floribunda ‘Atom Bomb’, which was developed by German rose breeder Reimer Kordes in 1953 during the height of post-war nuclear fervor. Through processes of grafting and taking cuttings, Hirst propagates this rose from one of the few remaining plants of the original species, and teaches others how to do the same through workshops and printed manuals. Since August 2019, the How to Make a Bomb project has been hosted by The Old Waterworks (TOW) in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with curator Warren Harper. TOW is poignantly in close proximity to Foulness Island, a key nuclear weaponry development site, where test weapons bound for Maralinga and the Monte Bello Islands were developed in the 1950s. 

How to Make a Bomb in the United States manifested as special gardening workshops in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, reaching over 200 people. As part of the research and preparation for these workshops, Hirst, Harper, Umayam, and Nguyen consulted environmentalists, botanists, plant inspectors, on how to bring the Atom Bomb rose safely and ethically into the United States (a bouquet was allowed via airplane; bare root roses are currently being negotiated and could possibly take ~6 months to 2 years time, including proper quarantine procedures.) While thinking about what it would mean for the rose to eventually reach US soil, the group simultaneously examined current US and UK plans to upgrade their nuclear weapons programs – American efforts to replace all of its land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, which is projected to cost over $130 billion, as well as the UK’s plans to replace its current fleet of ballistic missile submarines – and their potential environmental impact. The group shared their findings and reflections during the workshops, and invited the audience to contemplate the following questions:

What does “risk” and “threat” mean to you at this moment in time?

How often do you think about nuclear weapons, if ever? How do they make you feel?

When does care become violent? When does care become armament? Do you feel cared for?

The video above and the photos below are from the workshop held in June 2023 at the Center for Art, Research, and Alliances in New York City.
(videographer: Harry Kong)