KEN + JULIA YONETANI / IN THE MEDIA

Ken + Julia Yonetani's latest exhibition Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nuclear Nations opened last night. The exhibition features an installation of fifteen chandeliers made from glowing, neon green Uranium glass.

A response to the recent and disastrous Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant incident which followed a major earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year, the exhibition has so far received significant media coverage from the following media outlets:

The Daily Telegraph

ABC News

ABC Radio National

Das Platforms

The Art Newspaper

The Sun Herald

Time Out Magazine

The Australian
Vogue Magazine (current issue)

The Crystal Palace exhibition at Artereal takes place as the Yonetanis’ extremely well received solo exhibition, What the Birds Knew, at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is extended until November 3rd - the closing date for both shows.

The artists will also be holding an Artist Talk at Artereal Gallery on Saturday 20 October at 12pm.

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 @ 4A CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ASIAN ART

Ken + Julia Yonetani will soon open their solo exhibition What the Birds Knew at 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. 

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.

The exhibition opening is 6-8pm, Thursday 9 August at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, 181-187 Hay St, Haymarket. The artists will be speaking as part of 4A’s Lunchtime talks at 12.30pm Friday 17 August 2012.

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 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.