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Atomic Light review: Solar astronomers rescue an uneven installation

Four films make up Atomic Light by video and installation artist David Blandy, a work marred by overstatement, but saved by the story of two solar astronomers who drew the sun on the day of the Hiroshima blast

By Simon Ings

22 March 2023

Credit: David Blandy, Atomic Light, installation view, John Hansard Gallery, 2023. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Reece Straw

Atomic Light (installation view) by David Blandy at the John Hansard Gallery

Reece Straw/David Blandy

Atomic Light

David Blandy

John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, UK

Until 6 May

ONE of four short films by video and installation artist David Blandy, called The Edge of Forever, opens with a mournful panning shot of Cuckmere Haven in East Sussex. A less apocalyptic place is hard to imagine: Cuckmere is one of the most ravishing spots in the south-east of England. Still, the voice-over insists we contemplate “a ravaged Earth” and “forgotten peoples” as we …

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