KEN + JULIA YONETANI / ZK/U BERLIN OPEN STUDIO

Ken + Julia Yonetani_Crystal Palace (Germany)_2012_52 x 52 x 37cm_antique chandelier frames, uranium glass beads, wire, uv light bulbs, electric component

Ken + Julia Yonetani are currently in Germany undertaking an artist residency at ZK/U Berlin.

They have been working on completing their Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nuclear Nations series of uranium chandeliers, in which there will be 31 in total to represent the countries which currently operate nuclear power stations.

ZK/U will be hosting an open studio next week on Friday 25 July 2013, allowing members of the public an insight into the works the artists have created during their residence. Ken + Julia will have their newest completed uranium chandeliers for display, before all 31 works are shown at the Singapore Biennale from October 2013 - February 2014.

Fifteen of the Crystal Palace chandeliers were exhibited at Artereal Gallery in October 2012. You can learn more about that exhibition by clicking here.

ZK/U Berlin: Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin, Germany

Free Entry, open from 6pm - 10pm on 25 July 2013

KEN + JULIA YONETANI IN THE MEDIA

Ken + Julia Yonetani, Crystal Palace (USA), 2012, Chandelier frame, uranium glass beads, wire, UV light bulbs, and electrical component

Ken + Julia Yonetani's current solo exhibition, What The Birds Knew at 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, has been featured on various online publications, including an interview with Ken + Julia by Darryn King from Time Out Sydney, and an article by art and design culture hub designboom.

Other reviews of Ken + Julia's What The Birds Knew can also be found here, here and here.

Following on from this exhibition, Ken + Julia Yonetani will have a solo exhibition at Artereal Gallery this October. Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nuclear Nations is a response to the recent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident and the phenomenon of radiation. This exhibition will feature a new, never before exhibited installation of Uranium chandeliers.

KEN + JULIA YONETANI @ 4A CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ASIAN ART

Ken + Julia Yonetani, What the Birds Knew, 2012, Uranium glass beads, aluminium wire, and UV lights.

Ken + Julia Yonetani, What the Birds Knew, 2012, Uranium glass beads, aluminium wire, and UV lights

Ken + Julia Yonetani are opening their solo exhibition What the Birds Knew at 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, 181-187 Hay St, Haymarket, on Thursday 9th August from 6-8pm. The artists will also be speaking as part of 4a's Lunchtime Talks at 12:30pm on Friday 17th August.

What the Birds Knew includes new large scale sculptural works made from radioactive uranium glass. A 6-metre long green ant will threateningly loom over visitors to the gallery, and a large scale chandelier will be visible 24 hours a day. The use of UV lights will make the uranium glow green, giving the works an ominous energy.

These new visually stunning and highly provocative works arise out of the artists’ concerns over the recent nuclear tragedy in Fukushima. The title of the exhibition refers to the alternative title for Akira Kurosawa’s 1955 post-war film I Live in Fear, in which the central character declares that the birds would flee if they knew of the impending environmental threats.

What the Birds Knew reflects shared cultural expressions of environmental anxieties within Indigenous Australian and Japanese culture, and whether these function as either warnings or premonitions.

Following on from this exhibition, Ken + Julia Yonetani will have a solo exhibition at Artereal Gallery this October. Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nuclear Nations is a response to the recent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident and the phenomenon of radiation. This exhibition will feature a new, never before exhibited installation of Uranium chandeliers.

Ken + Julia Yonetani, Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nuclear Nations (Japan), 2012, metal, UV lighting, Uranium Glass

KEN + JULIA YONETANI FEATURED IN THE ART NEWSPAPER...

Ken + Julia Yonetani_Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works Industry of all Nuclear Nations (Germany, Japan)_2012

Ken + Julia Yonetani were recently interviewed by Elizabeth Fortescue about their new series of work, Crystal Palace: the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nuclear Nations, which features installation based sculptures made from Uranium glass exploring the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Japan and contemporary issues surrounding nuclear power.

To read their interview in The Art Newspaper click here. And keep an eye out for more sneak peaks at this work which will be exhibited at Artereal Gallery in October this year.

Ken + Julia are also included in a group show entitled Keeping Up Appearances at Nassauischer Kunstverein Gallery in Wiesbaden, Germany where they will exhibit a number of new Uranium works. The exhibition runs from 18 March - 6 May, 2012 and  addresses the issues which surround deception in all its different facets; from the question of originality and plagiarism in art, to the manner in which illusion has become an accepted part of everyday life...

Exhibiting artists include: Erik Blinderman & Lisa Rave / Matt Golden / Jeremy Hutchison / I. Helen Jilavu / Oliver Laric / Lech Majewski / Jenny Michel / Adrian Paci / Wilfredo Prieto / Susa Templin / Robert Voit  and Katrin Wegemann.