Critical Mass

Critical Mass is a mixed-media sculpture that invites the viewer to peer through a lens and activate the work using an industrial foot pedal. When illuminated, the image reveals a man handling a metallic object inside a glovebox - the sealed containment system used at Rocky Flats to work with radioactive materials.

The figure holds a plutonium “trigger,” like the estimated 70,000 triggers manufactured at Rocky Flats. These components form the explosive core of each nuclear weapon and are engineered to contain enough fissile material to sustain a self-propagating nuclear chain reaction, known as critical mass.

The viewing position places the audience inside the glovebox itself, situating the viewer within a system designed to separate human bodies from radioactive hazards. By positioning the viewer inside this apparatus of containment, Critical Mass reflects on the fragile boundary between containment and catastrophe that defined plutonium production at Rocky Flats.