Hana Usui's Electric Shadows at Kunstraum Feller, Vienna

Kunstraum Feller in Vienna hosts Electric Shadows, a solo exhibition by Tokyo-born artist Hana Usui (b. 1974), curated by Chiara Giorgetti. The show explores nuclear energy through photography and installation. Outside the gallery, photographic enlargements on glass depict the Buhonice storage facility in Slovakia, about 100 km from Vienna. Inside, one room displays Usui's photo/graphic works blending transparency, shadow, and calligraphic marks, influenced by her 2014 group show No More Fukushima during Vienna Art Week. A second, darkened room is viewed with a hand-crank dynamo torch, revealing an installation of variable-format shots of the Zwentendorf nuclear plant in Austria, which never became operational due to public protests. The exhibition juxtaposes light and shadow, emptiness and fullness, tragedy and play, referencing Roland Barthes's concepts of the obvious and obtuse. Runs until May 5, 2023.