The Cumbrian Alchemy project considers the nuclear industry, archaeology and folklore of the region. It explores nuclear repositories, deep-time in relation to what the nuclear industry calls RK&M (Records, Knowledge & Memory), language preservation and place. 
The Cumbrian Alchemy project emerged from an enquiry into the convergent relationships between the nuclear and energy industries, archaeological monuments and the oral traditions of the North-west region. To the East of Cumbria lies Wild Boar Fell where the last boar of England was killed. north is the promonitory Humphrey Head, where the last wolf of Cumbria died. Folk Memory of these animals is preserved within place-names in the region. Further South, close to a nuclear facility, is the Heysham Hogback Stone, a Norse monument offering mythic narratives in an epic tale of transformations and dragon-slaying.significance of these animals for the preservation of meaning in relation to place across time is considered in a dynamic first proposed by zoosemiotician Thomas Seboek (1984) in his famous paper for the American Office of Nuclear Waste, Communication Measures to Bridge 10 Millennia. Cumbrian Alchemy project speculatively ‘road-tests’ this ‘Folkloric Relay System’ exploring narrative and oral traditions, as well as sequences of signs and signifiers to create an ‘Atomic Priest’ who is accompanied by these spectral animals.
Professor Dr. Robert Williams is an artist and academic. He trained at Lancaster University (BA 1983/PhD 2013) and at Leeds University (1990/91) where he was a Henry Moore Scholar in Sculpture Studies. He was the Leader of the Fine Art Programmes at Cumbria Institute of the Arts between 1998-2013. He headed the practice-led arts research group ARI (Arts Research Initiative) for The University of Cumbria Institute of the Arts based in Carlisle between 2013-2023. Made Professor Emeritus June 2023. Williams’ art practice includes projects in the UK and USA with close collaborators such as artists Mark Dion and Bryan McGovern Wilson; conceptual writers Professor Dr. Simon Morris and Nick Thurston; archaeologists Dr. David Barrowclough and Dr. Aaron Watson; German cultural sociologist the late Professor Dr. Hilmar Schäfer, and with his son, Jack Aylward-Williams.
