Nuclear Futures

                                                                                                                                            Photo by Tania Safi

The 10 Minutes to Midnight showcase is our response as a team of artists to the testimonies we have heard and the archival information we have uncovered about the British Atomic Bomb experiments conducted in Australia. As artists we would like to acknowledge that this story has very profound consequences for the local indigenous communities, the Anangu traditional owners, and the Australian and British servicemen involved in the tests, and their families.

We recognise that the stories included in our presentation are but one chapter in a pressing global narrative, and that there are atomic survivor communities in many parts of the world. Yukiyo Kawano’s artwork represents a global hibakusha (atomic survivor) story, and offers insight into the international context of the Australian experience.

While the works presented in 10 Minutes to Midnight draw on eye-witness accounts and factual archival material, the installations and artworks offer an impressionistic reflection on the experience of the bomb tests from the perspective of many who were directly implicated, leaving us as artists and audience to ponder the consequences of those actions.

“So powerful were the events of Maralinga and so profound their impact on us as artists that it felt necessary to intertwine the real events with our response as artists.  All of us remain implicated in this history and its legacy.”

Teresa Crea, South Australian Artistic Director involved in the installations.