Multisensory installation of mist-filled bubbles from tree-like sculptures by A.A.Murakami, evoking the fleeting nature of life.
A.A.Murakami opens New Spring at the Newcastle Art Gallery on Saturday 26 September, and it's the work's Australian premiere. It's a multisensory installation: thousands of mist-filled bubbles bloom and fall like flowers from tree-like sculptures, and the whole thing runs through until 31 January 2027, so you've got plenty of time to catch it if you can't make the opening weekend.
A.A.Murakami is the collaborative practice of Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves, who live and work between Japan and England. They're known for what they call 'ephemeral technology'—installations where machines conjure fleeting natural phenomena. New Spring fits that description to a T, with the bubbles appearing and vanishing just like the flowers they're meant to evoke. The duo says the work is designed to bring to mind mono no aware, the Japanese term for the bittersweet feeling that comes when you realise life is fleeting.
They also run Studio Swine, an experimental design practice with work in the permanent collections of MoMA in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Vitra Design Museum, and M+ in Hong Kong. New Spring opens alongside New Annual 2026, with the Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation as Global Exhibition Supporter.
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Entry is free, and the gallery is at 1 Laman Street, Newcastle. It runs from 26 September 2026 to 31 January 2027.
