A temporary index is an array of decorative counters that mark sites of nuclear waste storage across the world.  Each counter is a kind of totem marking the time in seconds that remains before these sites of entombed nuclear waste become safe again for humans.  These timeframes range from as little as forty years or as much as one million years.

A booklet accompanies the collection of counters, which describes each site in more detail, also providing contextual information about the human legacy of nuclear waste and what we as a species have done so far to deal with it.

A temporary index is commissioned by Dr Ele Carpenter and Arts Catalyst as part of their Nuclear Culture project.  More information here: http://nuclear.artscatalyst.org/