JAO YU CHEN

Education

2014-2018
Royal Academy of Art The Hague,Textile Design Bachelor

2009-2013
National Chung Kung University,Economics Bachelor


Exhibitions


2024 7th Fiber Art Creation Award, Prelimirary round, Taichung, Taiwan

2023 EEL Festival,Taipei,Taiwan

2021 Matter Matters as a Matter of Fact, Soulangh Creative Park,Tainan, Taiwan

2019 The Forth Generation, EMU digital gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2018 Graduation Festival,Royal Academy of arts the Hague, Netherlands

2018 Exposed,de Electriciteitsfabriek, Netherlands

2017 Exposed,de Electriciteitsfabriek, Netherlands

2016 Exposed,de Electriciteitsfabriek, Netherlands

2015 Exposed,de Electriciteitsfabriek, Netherlands

Arstist Residency


2025 Pier 2 Artist in Residnence, Selected(April-June), Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2021 Artist in Residence at Soulangh Cultural Park,Tainan

Working Experience


10/21-03/24
Material designer, One Dust Studio

10/19-01/21
Freelance weaving designer for Jongeriuslab,Exhibition Woven Cosmos, Gropius Bau

06/19
Weaving collaborator for Bless,Exhibition at Lafayette Anticipation

07/17- 09/17
Internship, Bless Berlin

11/16- 04/17
Part-time assistant, Eugène van Veldhoven Textile Design


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Oily Hands

The textures of our exhibition emerge from the residue of industry—in the frayed ends of ropes, the patina of disuse, the agency of discarded matter. Marine nets are twined into large chunky anchor chains that resemble compulsive scribbles and markings in space. The corrugation of the white ropes are frothy waves that fold into each other endlessly by the shoreline. 

Our intention at this residency is clear: to work with industrial leftovers, specifically from factories that manufactured ropes for Kaohsiung’s ocean economies like fisheries and freight shipping cargo ships. We spent our first month here sourcing leftover materials from them in Dashe, Daliao, and Pingtung. 

Every factory-owner-staff we met received us with a kind of generosity that caught us off guard. These factories - mostly family-owned -  felt gritty and tempered, active but uncertain. They share common narratives emblematic of broader structural changes in Taiwan’s industrial landscape:  aggressive competition from China, dwindling labor forces, and increasing reliance on migrant workers.

Pursuing the manufacturing lineage further upstream, we met Mr. Chiu, a rope-making machinery merchant in Changhua, who connected us to his client that gave us a retired maypole braiding machine that was commonly used in factories 30 years ago. In the exhibition, the viewers are invited to crank the machine’s handle and look upward—to see the machine’s continuous, synchronized choreography reflected back to them. 

This exhibition would not have been possible without the help of: 
金洲海洋科技
興詮企業
偉宏繩業
滿鑫漁具
協和繩索
立盛網具
翰沂國際貿易
特別感謝
涱銘鐵工廠

More Pier2AIR
collaboration with Tif Sung

Nexus

In this installation, the aluminum strips represent individual parts or entities, and the act of weaving them together symbolizes the importance of unity, cooperation, and interconnectedness. The strength of the structure arises from the way each individual element supports and is supported by the others. The interwoven technique serves as a metaphor for social and organizational systems where collaboration and mutual support lead to resilience, adaptability, and strength. The final piece becomes not just a physical structure but a symbol of unity and interconnectedness.

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Installation
Collaboration with Tweemolar


EEL Festival

Eel Festival installation emerges as a fusion of YuChen's textile artistry and Tweemolar's floral expertise, embodying a collaborative dialogue between materials. Beyond mere collection, our practice delves into a profound interaction with these materials, shaping the ultimate form of the installation.

Viewers may perceive the installation as a piece of gym equipment, a vehicle, a furniture, or even a testament to evolution. Through it, we project our visions of a post-human world, echoing diverse imaginings and embodiments of the body.

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Installation
Collaboration with Tweemolar



Matter Matters as a Matter of Fact 

Materiality is the starting point of our research. From nearby factories and local craftsmen, we collected leftover materials and unsold inventory, ranging from webbing straps, marble scraps, to even paper flyers from Siao-Long Cultural Park. These industries we have visited, although seemingly unrelated, weave an unseen network, supporting the region’s cultural and economic makeup.

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Artist Residency
 Wild Things Artist Duo

Mice on Mars
The installation is a crash site on Mars. Crashing a car means the destruction of a value. The value of constantly seeking for progress, an act of seeking to prove that humans are powerful enough to alter other planets. Once a vehicle has crashed,the added value must be to distract from the machine itself, it becomes merely a piece of metal. Through the use of miniature and imitate, I constructed a landscape free from the restriction ofgeological space. A new world that lies in my imagination of the distant future.

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Cybernetic cave painting

This project is a conversation between human and machines, the interaction of machines and human influences. A tufting gun, weaving loom, and a crochet needle were used during this project. An artistic expression of both. The final outcome consists of a textile installation and a short film. 

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Short Film

Made in Chinatown

The Hague Chinatown, an amusement park for Pan-Asian culture, a world of its own. A farrago of cultural representations; constantly changing to satisfy the curiosity of the tourists. The objects question the notion of authenticity and they are the manifestations of the continuous evolution of one’s identity. 

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