Time Capsule: Yoi Kawakubo and Nao Matsunaga

About

The works embody the memory of the past within media, transporting audience through time, from past, to the present and into the future.

Yoi Kawakubo's series, 'If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the skies’, features prints enlarged from film buried near the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant following the 2011 earthquake. The hues of the images emerge not from light exposure; according to Kawakubo, they are caused by factors such as intense radiation, humidity, and even fungi at each burial site. This argument is juxtaposed to the series' title, drawn from the Hindu holy text Bhagavad Gita and quoted by Robert Oppenheimer who led the project to produce the world's first atomic bombs. It encourages viewers to reflect on the intricate relationship between nuclear technology, environmental impact, and the artistic process. 

Matsunaga, on the other hand, positions his works as veritable records of actions, dispositions and circumstances. Emphasising the significance of physicality in the creative process, Matsunaga's intuitive approach involves meticulous actions such as slap-building, muscle engagement, and constraints due to material properties. Specific actions or the lack thereof, becomes a part of the artistic consciousness.

Each piece ceramic, wood carving or painting work reflects the artist's journey, capturing subtle nuances of being a cultural minority most of his life. These pieces are fragments of time in a physical form.