75th Exhibition & Symposium

Contemporary Perspectives on the Nuclear-World in Art: Exhibition & Symposium (ASAH co-hosted)

Introduction: In conjunction with the exhibition, Contemporary Perspectives on the Nuclear World in Art, 7 April – 14 May 2022, to be held at the Tin Sheds Gallery at USYD, a one-day symposium, open to the public, will take place in its foyer. The exhibition will display a diverse array of artworks, rarely shown in Australia, exploring the impact of nuclear bombing, testing and accidents in Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Maralinga, Bikini Atoll, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Although the scope of the exhibition is wide-ranging, it resonates with the essential themes of defiance against injustice, fear of radiation, human folly and family love, and above all the commitment to nuclear disarmament. With Indigenous artists from Maralinga the symposium will discuss the power and efficacy of art in a nuclear world and explore the many ways in which aesthetics have both represented and fostered the search for peace and security. After the exhibition a digitalized catalogue will be printed and made available to the public.

PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM

Saturday 7 May 2022, Tin Sheds Gallery Theatre

Building on the momentum of grassroots campaigns in Australia, Japan and across the globe, the symposium invites participants to explore the political and cultural shifts that have accompanied the transition to a nuclear world since the 1940s, and the current achievement of the United Nations treaty banning nuclear weapons that took effect on 22 January 2021.

Join us in Discussion Panels led by Okamura Yukinori, curator at Maruki Gallery, Maralinga Tjarutja artists, ICAN founders, Allan Marett and Yuki Tanaka on modern Noh performance.

SATURDAY TALKS

Tin Sheds Gallery Theatre. 2.30pm to 4.00pm.

Saturday 23 April. Merylin Fairskye, “Long Life: the Slow Violence of Radiation”.

Saturday 30 April. Roman Rosenbaum,“The Aesthetic, Art and Genre that is Manga”.

Enquiries: Dr Yasuko Claremont, yasuko.claremont@sydney.edu.au

Digital Catalogue: 75th Anniversary and beyond Exhibition

  • Maralinga test site signage
  • TOKYO, JAPAN – DECEMBER 01: Artist Taro Okamoto speaks during the Asahi Shimbun interview circa December 1979 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
  • Ben Shahn (1898-1969), The Lucky Dragon Incident, 1954.
  • Aioi-bashi (The Aioi Bridge), 1984, Goro Shikoku (1924-2014)
  • Ikinokori (Surviving), 1963,Makoto Ueno (1909-1980)
  • Hiroshima: Shimin no e (Drawings of Citizens)
  • Japanese activists, Chim↑Pom addition
  • Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Memorial Museum, 1949-1954, Kenzo Tange.
  • Asu no Shinwa (The Myth of Tomorrow), 1967, Taro Okamoto (1911-1996)
  • Symposium and Exhibition Information Flyer: DOWNLOAD

©Fukushima Art Museum: image of Aikichi Kuboyama, who died of radiation sickness following the Lucky Dragon incident.

Public description of your project

During the seventy-five years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, at the close of the Asia Pacific War, the world has been living under the shadow of nuclear warfare, nuclear testing, and nuclear power station accidents. Our project showcases the wide-ranging artistic responses to the nuclear age, through an exhibition of atomic art, Art in the Nuclear Age: From Hiroshima to the Present Day, to be held at the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney from 7 October-20 November 2021. In conjunction with the exhibition, we will hold a  one-day open access symposium on Saturday 30 October 2021, to discuss the significant role of art in demanding peace, justice and reconciliation in our uncertain world.

The focus of the exhibition and the symposium will be on artworks from Australia and Japan. Most of the artworks to be exhibited are rarely shown in Australia, such as the series ‘Life-Lifted-Into-the Sky’ from Maralinga, a full-size replica of ‘Fire’ in Maruki’s Hiroshima panels, a premier exhibition of Ueno Makoto’s woodcut print ‘Surviving’ and reproductions of Shikoku’s paintings. The symposium will highlight contributions from Australian and Japanese art specialists, who will present either in person or virtually.

Organising Committee:

#ausjapanfoundation; #AJF; #豪日交流基金;