Born in Taichung; lives and works in London, UK.
The work of Yu-Chen Wang asks fundamental questions about human identity at a key point in history, where eco-systems and techno-systems have become inextricably intertwined. At the same time, her Taiwanese origins, combined with a London-based career, have created a vision that is personal and autobiographical.
Wang’s central practice is drawing, allowing her to explore and meditate on mechanical and biological forms, and the ways in which their bodily borderlines blur and mutate. From these extemporisations, she then finds collaborative routes that take her work into the realms of fictional text, provoking the subsequent production of sculptural installation, performance, music, and film, in various combinations.
When audiences encounter her work, they are not only encountering her art, but also entering her fictional narratives. The nature of these fictions frequently reaches back to the first great age of machines in the 19th century, but also asks audiences to stretch their imaginations forward to the furthest limits of current technology and planetary over-heating. Yu-Chen Wang is an artist for the future, with her feet planted in the present, on ground that covers relics from the past.
Yu-Chen Wang has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally. Her recent solo exhibitions include Yu-Chen Wang, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester (2016); Nostalgia for the Future, Yu-Chen Wang: An Introspective Retrospective, Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2016); Heart to Heart, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester (2016); This is the end…, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (2015). She was artist-in-residence at Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester (2015); Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei (2014); Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester (2011).
She has exhibited in numerous group shows, including Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (2016); Taipei Biennial, Taiwan (2014); Hayward Gallery, London (2014, 2012); Art Lending Library, Glasgow International (2012); Cornerhouse, Manchester (2011); TÜYAP Istanbul Art Fair-ARTIST 2010, Turkey (2010); Gallerie Onno van Toor, Rotterdam (2009); Barbican Centre (2008); FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, France (2007); Galerie L'Oeil de Poisson, Quebec City (2007); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2006); Camden Arts Centre, London (2006).
