Japanese artist Yukinori Yanagi presents a ‘moving tapestry’ in Hong Kong – call it ants for art’s sake
Yukinori Yanagi uses ants to tunnel through images of flags and money made of sand, as a critique of borders and the symbols of power that separate us
Japanese artist Yukinori Yanagi uses an unusual method to carve through the intricate sand flags he creates in plastic boxes – living ants.
In an installation titled Union Jack (1994), which is the centrepiece of his solo exhibition at art advisory firm Ticolat Tamura’s viewing space in Central, visitors can see the cracks and scars left by the insects, which travelled through a network of tubes leading to 20 flags of former British colonies including Hong Kong.
Yanagi says he has always been fascinated with the social intricacies of ant colonies and how they functioned. “Compared to human society, which fluctuates constantly … ants form a perfect group society controlled merely by their primitive central nervous system,” says Yanagi, who played with ants and other insects when he was a child.
“Although ants carry out the same social activities as human beings, they are a far cry from human society, I thought they could be a metaphor to think about our society.”
Hong Kong’s 2017 Venice Biennale show inspired by charity singles and the bad side of trying to do good
The flags of former British colonies symbolise the “immeasurable” influence colonialism had on the modern world, the artist says.
