“Chandeliers are not only an item of luxury, but also an extravagant emblem of the beauty of electricity and the seductiveness of consumerism.”
In response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Australia-based artists Ken + Julia Yonetani will display a total of 29 chandeliers, all made from vintage uranium glass beads. Each chandelier will represent a country that relies on nuclear power for energy with its size correlating to the amount of nuclear capacity. The U.S. will presumably be the largest, followed by France, Japan and Russia.
“Chandeliers,” the artists say, “are not only an item of luxury, but also an extravagant emblem of the beauty of electricity and the seductiveness of consumerism.” The ultraviolet lights will emit small traces of radioactivity that, while not harmful, remind us of the deadly presence of radiation and how one of its inherent dangers lies in our inability to detect it through any of our senses.
The provocative exhibition will be on display from October 3 – November 4, 2012 at Artereal Gallery in Sydney, Australia – significant in that Australia is the number one exporter of uranium to Japan.
source: Ken + Julia Yonetani | MyModernMet
