Yukako Tanaka

Yukako Tanaka is a Japanese artist, working and living in London. Her research and artworks aim to translate the beauty of scientific evidence (such as cosmic rays, gravitational-wave and human brain) into a fine art context. And her practice conducts cross-disciplinary research in philosophy, physics, and biology and collaborating with researchers in astrophysics and neurology. She received the Princess of Wales Award 2018/19 (Royal College of Art/Contemporary Art Practice) in her first year.

Last year, Yukako was selected as one of the participants of the Ethereal Antimatter Challenge in #SciCommHack at CERN (Geneva). Her works were exhibited both within the UK and globally, such as Late Light 2019 at King’s College London, Sound and Vision at Royal Academy of Music, and SICF20 @Spiral Hall (Tokyo). As one of the members of the Partisan Social Club, she participated in Coventry Biennial 2019. On publication, her works are introduced in the Aesthetica Magazine, Issue 98 / Artists' Directory and Artists' Spotlight.

Yukako contributed to developing CAP TV for RCA2021, a platform hosting live and pre-recorded broadcasts from across Contemporary Art Practice students. For a full listing of upcoming broadcasts visit mixcloud.com/cap_tv.

Science x FIne art x Philosophy

In recent years, my work has focused on "existence" and "existing" and derives from it, exploring "absence", "the invisible", and "the inaudible". My research and artwork aim to translate the beauty of scientific evidence and phenomena into a fine art context and to incorporate cross-disciplinary research across fields such as philosophy, physics, and biology. My justification for using cross-disciplinary research in and through various academic disciplines is my belief in the common denominators that connect the underlying search for the truth of human beings, nature, and the universe.

The process of my work always starts with hypotheses and questions. I believe that art can be a vessel that is open to flexibly accepting ideas and concepts from various fields. By combining scientific phenomena with artistic and philosophical questions, we might be able to examine nature and the universe and provide a slightly different perspective than those answers elicited by science, and possibly even predict and create the future.