Beihua Guo, Grand Prix winner of ROTLICHT Festival 2026, explores a subject that, at first glance, seems to belong to a distant past. In his project “Designated Ground Zeros”, he photographs sites identified as potential targets for nuclear attacks in the “Atomic Weapons Requirements Study for 1959”, compiled in 1956. His work thus revisits a threat that was omnipresent during the Cold War.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made the devastating consequences of these weapons clear to humanity. Today, we are witnessing a historic proliferation of armed conflicts worldwide. The world order is undergoing profound geopolitical changes, while rearmament and military deterrence are once again gaining importance.
Guo produces his prints using the uranotype process, in which uranium salts serve as the light-sensitive material. In doing so, he connects the material dimension of his images with the history of the depicted sites and their designation as targets for nuclear destruction.
His project powerfully links historical memory with the question of how we confront humanity’s enduring potential for self-destruction today.
About the artist:
Beihua Guo (B. 1998, Shanghai, China) is a visual artist working in photography, video, and installation. His work investigates how histories are remembered, buried, or erased, particularly in landscapes marked by colonialism, extraction, and displacement.