Name: 王郁媜
Born: 1978
Birthplace: Taichung County (now Taichung City)
Current Residence: London
The Collide International Residency Award was a joint project of CERN and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) from 2016 to 2018 offering two-month residencies in the laboratory in Geneva to facilitate important dialogues with physicists, engineers, and staff. In cooperation with FACT and CERN, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts held the exhibition "Broken Symmetries—Art x Physics."
"Broken Symmetries" brings together nine brand-new commissioned works from international artists, reflecting artists' creative conceptions of physics concepts, creating a new model for cooperation between the arts and sciences. This exhibition lets visitors explore quantum physics from an artistic perspective and better understand how the invisible quantum realm affects human life.
Wang Yu-chen's piece for this was entitled "We aren't able to prove that just yet, but we know it's out there" and focused on the abstract imagery from the bubble chamber experiments of the 1960s. A bubble chamber is an instrument for detecting electrically charged particles. Wang found herself fascinated by the paths of the particles so detected, as well as the records and explanations of the experimental process.
Wang Yu-chen was born in Taichung and currently lives and works in London. In Taiwan, she studied advertising design at junior college and university. In 2000, she was admitted to graduate studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she began her work as an artist, and in 2002, she graduated with a Master's degree from the Chelsea College of Arts of the University of the Arts London. She primarily works in pencils and watercolors, creating complex, detailed images. From there, she also develops artist's books and videos, along with performance art, collages, and installation art pieces.
Having previously been a student of design, Wang had originally wanted to study design at Goldsmiths. Inspired by a friend, Wang decided to try her hand at something different, switching to fine art. With training at two English colleges, Wang found design remained a primary element of her later creations, with design concepts, techniques, and methods having a tremendous influence on her works.
Wang Yu-chen's work emphasizes methodology and development in stages. She usually would start the research works of a new project in a specific urban location, investigating local culture, history, geography. During her residency, she would study related local archives and relics and sought exchanges and collaboration with cross-boundary local workers, using their life experiences, local knowledge, and specialist skills to further develop ties and seek out new knowledge while also expanding her network. As she develops new relationships with local workers, she also begins developing new creative pieces.
Wang Yu-chen is now lecturing in painting at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, and a guest lecturer in art at Goldsmiths, University of London, recently focusing on creation across fields and cultures. She has also published a creative manual entitled "The Song of the Machines."