One unwasted hour / 1

Just an hour, but an hour near the national institutions. Firstly, I caught the mini exhibition at NGA Contemporary. Of course, you need a cool name for contemporary art. It's a little space, just a few connected rooms, down by the Lake. Not sure why I was intrigued, but I'd decided to attend. There were two (perhaps three) little exhibitions by a an Australian/Japanese artist pair, Ken + Julia Yonetani, presumable a couple. One display was a table heaped with food, all made of salt. This followed time with scientists investigating salination of the Murray/Darling basin. It was called the Last Supper, with reference to Leonardo's mural in Milano. I checked that paining online and we definitely live a richer life than Jesus and his mates. Maybe that's the message. Then a dark room with glowing chandeliers made of period frames, uranium glass and UV lights to make them glow. Neat! A comment on nuclear stuff and the Fukushima nuclear accident. Then a final display that you could just not notice. Five picture frames mounted on the wall, again made of salt but with nothing inside, called Five senses and a reference to Rubens and abundance (Ruben's referenced work had abundant content: this had nothing). I enjoyed the glowing chandeliers, somewhat enjoyed the salt table but was annoyed at the blank frames. Modern art seems so much ideas and so little skills these days (although the accompanying plaques spoke of great difficulties of working with salt due to solubility). Pretty colours in glass and flat, bubbly white otherwise.

Ken Jonetani and Julia Yonetani presented at the NGA Contemporary gallery.