Kuang-Yi Ku
Kuang-Yi Ku lives and works both in Taiwan and the Netherlands. He is doing his Ph.D. research at Sheffield Hallam University, UK and the research topic is the interdisciplinary practice between art, design, and bioscience. He graduated with triple master degrees in social design from Design Academy Eindhoven; in dentistry from National Yang-Ming University; and in Communication Design from Shih Chien University. Formerly a dentist, Ku is a bio-artist and speculative designer. He co-founded TW BioArt (a Taiwan bioart community) to stimulate the fields of BioArt and Science + Art in Taiwan. His works often deal with the human body, sexuality, interspecies interactions, and medical technology, and aim to investigate the relationships among technology, individuals, and the environment.
Kuang-Yi Ku’s “Tiger Penis Project” was awarded the 2018 Gijs Bakker Award, the annual prize for the best project by a graduating master’s student in Design Academy Eindhoven. He also won First Prize in the Taipei Digital Art Awards in 2015 with “The Fellatio Modification Project,” in which body modification, gender studies, queer theory, and dentistry all come together. Ku’s works have been featured in international media ranging from New Scientist, The Huffington Post, Elephant Magazine, DAMN° Magazine, Dezeen, and Designboom, to VICE, Dazed Digital, Daily Mail, and the New York Post.
Education
2021-ongoing, PhD, Lab4Living, Culture and Creativity Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
2018 Master of Arts, Social Design, Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands
2015 Master of Design, Communications Design, Shih Chien University, Taiwan
2015 Master of Dental Science, National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan
2009 Doctor of Dental Surgery, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
Awards/Grants/Scholarships
2022 British Council, International Collaboration Grants
2022 Bio Art & Design Award, Netherlands
2021 Taipei Art Awards, Selected Award
2020 Design Trust Grant, Hong Kong
2019 Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK), 3 Package Deal (Social Design), Netherlands
2019 Stimuleringsfonds, Talent Development, Netherlands
2019 Core77 Design Award, Speculative Design Award, Student Notable
2019 Creation Grants, “CREATORS Creative/Support Project”, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab), Taiwan
2019 Creation Grants, Arts and Technology: Creative Innovation and Counseling Project, Ministry of Taiwan
2019 Stimuleringsfonds, design grants, Netherlands
2019 National Culture and Arts Foundation Grants (International cultural exchange), Taiwan
2018 Stimuleringsfonds, Starting grants, Netherlands
2018 National Culture and Arts Foundation Grants (creation grant), Taiwan
2018 Gijs Bakker Award 2018, Winner, Netherlands
2018 Future Food Design Award, Nominee, Netherlands
2018 National Culture and Arts Foundation Grants, Taiwan
2016 National Culture and Arts Foundation Grants, Taiwan
2016 “The Fellatio Modification Project” selected in “MOUTHY- Into The Orifice”, Science Gallery London
2016 Scholarship of Taiwan Government Sponsorship for Overseas Study (Transdisciplinary Art)
2016 Creation Grants, Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government
2015 Taipei Digital Art Awards, The First Prize
2012 Exhibition of the Newly Emerging Artists in Taiwan 3D Creation Series, Selected
2011 Geisai Taiwan 3, Most popular award
Teaching
2021 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Institute of Applied Art National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
2020 Adjunct Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Design, Shih Chien University
2019-2021 Lecturer, Bio Art course, Department of New Media Art, Taipei National University of the Arts
Experiences
2020-now Founder, Coevolution Research Assembly (an NPO of artist and scientist collaboration)
2015-2016 Committee (Cultural Policy Consultant), Commission on Youth, Taipei City Government
2014-now Co-founder, Ouroboros - Organic Organism of O (Artist Collective)
2012-now Co-founder, TW BioArt (Taiwan BioArt Community)
2011-2015 Dentist, Private Dental Clinic
2009-2011 Dentist, Taipei Veterans General Hospital
Residencies
2020-2022 STUDIOTOPIA – Art meets Science in the Anthropocene
hosted by GLUON in collaboration with VIB Grand Challenge Program (BE)
Funded by Creative Europe program of the European Union
2019-2020 “3 Package Deal”, social design category (Waag Society + Next Nature Network), Amsterdam,
Netherlands. Funded by Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK)
2018 AirWG, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018 Waag Society, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Funded by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
2016 Eindhoven, Netherlands
Funded by World Design Capital Taipei 2016 (Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government)
2016 FACT （Foundation for Art and Creative Technology）, Liverpool, UK
Funded by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Workshops
2020/08/02 Designing Disease - the Theatre of Future Medicine
Department of Industrial Design, Shih Chien University
Tutor
2020/08/02 Imagining a Bio Lab
Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei, Taiwan
Tutor with Paul Gong
2020/07/04 Fictional Life: Hybridity, Transgenics, Innovation - Future Body Imagination
Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei, Taiwan
Tutor with Paul Gong
2019/11/16 Food Design Workshop (Microwave International New Media Arts Festival)
Exhibition Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong
Tutor with Adelaide Tam
2019/06/30 Heartbeat of the Earth
De Ketelfactory, Schiedam, Netherlands
Tutor with Arita Baaijens and Corine Datema
2019/01/14 Bioart - Imagining the Laboratories of Artists
~2019/01/16 Department of New Media Art, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan
Tutor with Paul Gong, Theresa Tsao, Pei-Ying Lin
2018/10/13 Asian Futurism Dinner
Natlab, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Artist with Pei-Ying Lin
2018/10/06 Tiger Penis: The Future of Chinese Medicine
Mediamatic, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist
2018/10/04 The body as sensor: fortune telling by pulse
Waag Society, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist
2018/06/09 Workshop derived from the Tiger Penis Project - Workshop About Traditional
Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Tutor
2017/10/13 Workshop with Kuang-Yi Ku
FACT Lab, Liverpool, UK
Tutor
2017/07/29, Workshop of Biological Fortunetelling
2017/08/05 Yiri Living Space, Taipei, Taiwan
Tutor with Pei-Ying Lin, Paul Gong, Ai Hasegawa and Yiyun Chen
2016/11/02 Fellatio Modification Project: Sex and Dentistry Skills Workshop
London Dental Education Center, London, UK
Tutor
2015/08/16 Bio-fiction Taiwan - Bio-Art Workshop
National Taiwan Science Education Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Tutor with Pei-Ying Lin
2015/05/30 The Future of Body Modification - Bio-Art Workshop
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
Tutor
2014/11/14 Bio-fiction of Electrophysiology - Bioart Workshop
~2014/11/19 Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
Tutor, with Pei-Ying Lin, Cheng Guo and Yi-Ling Wu
2014/04/23 Dildomancy - Sexology workshop
Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Tutor, with Pechblenda and Cindy Lin
2013/10/11 “Living, Food, and Its Extend” - Bioart Workshop
~ 2013/10/12 National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
Tutor, with Pei-Ying Lin
Talks
2020/12/20 #Food Design After Graduation, talk #108
online talk, Zuibishe, China
2020/11/30 Art, Design, Science, Future - Unbore's Pecha Kucha,
online event
2020/11/28 Science and Art Talk Screening - "Gene Noah's Ark"
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
2020/11/05 Five-fold Path, IAA Seminar on Arts and Design Post-Biological Culture
Forum Lecture Series
Institute of Applied Art National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
2020/10/31 Artist Talk (Taiwan Biennial)
VT Art Salon, Taipei, Taiwan
2020/10/26 What’s New Media Art?
National Taichung theater, Taiwan
2020/09/12 Genetic Biotech through the eyes of artists
Are Electronica Garden, Brussels, Belgium
2020/04/19 PANT Public #2 : What Now? Foreign Artists in the Netherlands
Online Event
2020/02/29 Uncertainty Seminars
Stroom, Den Haag, Netherlands
2019/11/27 BAU Lab “BioArt Meets Performance”
Waag Society + BAU Dance & Performance, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2019/10/26 TV program "De toekomstbouwers (The Future Builder)" made by VPRO
Dutch National TV “NPO2”, Netherlands
2019/05/23 Challenging medical paradigms through art and design
University of the Underground, Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018/12/13 Gogbot Café XL
Design lab, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
2017/11/10 Challenging medical paradigms through art and design
TEDxEindhoven. Philips Hall, Evoluon, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2017/03/22 Expanding the Body, Exploring Desire: Queer Research in Japanese and
Taiwanese Contexts
Queer Asia, SOAS, University of London, London, UK
2016/11/02 The Fellatio Modification Project
Guy’s Campus, King’s College London, London, UK
2016/04/20 When Science Meets Art
UCA Farnham - University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK
2016/03/28 Embrace Art and Science
Taipei National University of the Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
With Pei-Ying Lin
2016/03/21 The Fellatio Modification Project
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
2016/02/22 Transdisciplinary Practice of Art and Medicine
Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
2016/02/20 Art in Production Series
No Man’s Land, Taipei, Taiwan
With Bo-Wu Chen
2014/10/26 Transdisciplinary Practice of Art and Medicine
Changee, Taipei, Taiwan
2014/06/27 Fab Meetup - Food Fab - TW BioArt
Fabcafe Taipei
With Pei-Ying Lin
2014/05/20 BioArt in Asia - An Observation
Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan.
With Pei-Ying Lin
2013/11/29 Artists in Labcoats - BioArt
Makerbar, Taipei, Taiwan.
With Pei-Ying Lin
Conferences & Art Festivals
2019/11/04 “Brave New World” conference
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
Speaker
2019/09/07 Gogbot conference
Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum, Enschede, Netherlands
Speaker
2019/07/06 Public event of Placebo effect conference
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave/Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
Attending presenter
2018/08/29~ 4S Sydney - TRANSnational STS, Society for Social Studies of Science Annual
2018/09/01 Conference
Sydney International Convention Centre, Sydney, Australia
Attending presenter
2015/10/01 Neolife -The Inaugural Rest of the World Meeting of the Society for
Literature, Science and The Arts
The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Attending presenter
2014/10/02 Arse Elektronika - Conference of Sex and Technology
~2014/10/05 Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco, US
Attending presenter
2014/08/04 TransHACKfeminist! - Conference of Feminism
~2014/08/11 Ca La Fou, Barcelona, Spain
Attending presenter
2014/04/13 Hackterialab 2014
~2014/04/25 Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Attending artist
Exhibitions
2022 “Unknown Unknowns”, Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy
2022 “Colliding Epistemes: Art ＆ Science Exhibition”, Cluj Culture Center, Cluj, Romania
2022 “Colliding Epistemes: Science for Art＇s sake?”, Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
2022 “The 5th Anniversary of Jut Art Museum - LIVES: Life, Survival, Living”, Jut Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2022 “Colliding Epistemes: Art, Science, Anthropocene”,Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland
2021 “Taipei Art Awards”, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2021 “Provocative Futures II: Speculation, Medical Science, Human Body and Gender”, Digital Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2021 “Phantasmapolis - 2021 Asian Art Biennial”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, , Taichung, Taiwan
2021 “Embassy of Food”, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2021 “Embassy of Inclusive Society”, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2021 “It’s in our Nature”, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2021 “Kuang-Yi Ku: Form Follows Fiction”,Willem Twee Kunstruimte, Den Bosch, Netherlands
2021 “Folk is Strange Thing”, Ziemniaki, Warsaw, Poland
2021 “Grandmom Mom”, Honggah Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2021 “Interspecies Future”, Center for Book Arts, New York, US
2021 "Dwell in Light－2021 Treasure Hill Light Festival”, Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei, Taiwan
2020 “CHRONIQUES - Biennale of Digital Imagination”, Marseille, France
2020 “Taiwan HYPE Exhibition”, Taipei. Taiwan
2020 “Sci-fi Prototype”, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei, Taiwan
2020 "Embassy of Health" - World Design Embassies, virtual exhibition
2020 "Genetic (R)evolution: BioArt Exhibition" National Yangming University Arts Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2020 “Taiwan Biennial”, VT Art Salon, Taipei, Taiwan
2020 "new now - critical, speculative and fictional“, Sunsun Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2020 “Provocative Futures: Speculation, human body, and medical science - Paul Gong & Kuang-Yi Ku Double Solo Exhibition”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
2020 Unpacking the 3Pckage Deal 2019/2020, VondelCS, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2020 Artificial Unit, TheCube Project Space, Taipei, Taiwan
2020 Uncertainty Seminars, Stroom Den Haag, Netherlands
2019 “State of Extremes", Design Museum Holon, Holon, Israel
2019 “Microwave International New Media Arts Festival E.A.T.”, Exhibition Hall, Low Block, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong
2019 “RTS: ReTranSens - 14th Digital Art Festival Taipei”, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan
2019 “Inscience International Film Festival”, Mariënburgkapel, Nijmegen, Netherlands
2019 “Przemiany Festival”, Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw, Poland
2019 “Embassy of Health”,klokgebouw, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2019 “City Flip-Flop”, C-Lab, Taipei, Taiwan
2019 “Ars Electronica”, “Human Limitations – Limited Humanity”, POSTCITY Linz, Austria
2019 “Gogbot Festival”, “Bio The New Digital”, Grote Kerk, Enschede, Netherlands
2019 “Friday Late: Pick of the Litter”, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
2019 “Farming the Future - Zoom in and Out”, TAC, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2019 “Beyond Species - The art exhibition”, FIT, New York, America
2019 “Creatures Made to Measure”, Design Museum Gent, Gent, Belgium
2019 “Milan re-used”, Yksi Expo, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2019 “Future (H)eart(H): 8 Dutch Design visions for a livable earth” Ventura Future, Base Milano, Milan, Italy
2019 “TEC ART” festival, Worm Slash Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2018 “Tiger Penis Project Exhibition”, Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2018 “L.A.B: 2018 NCKU Bi²ennale – Technology and Art”, NCKU Art Center, Tainan, Taiwan
2018 “ReShape - Mutating Systems, Bodies and Perspectives”, MU artspace, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2018 “Embassy of Food - Edible Invisible”, De Witte Dame, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2018 “G18 - Graduation Show of Design Academy Eindhoven”, De Campina, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2018 “Embassy of Health - Chronic Health”, Innovation Powerhouse, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2017 “Designing Desire”, FACT, Liverpool, UK
2017 “Materialising the Internet”, MU, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2017 “Atypical Human”, YIRI Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
2017 “Future Lab”, Play Design Hotel, Taipei,Taiwan
2017 “Satyricon”, Yiri Arts at Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Space, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2017 “Alien Matter - Transmediale 2017”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2016 “Mouthy: Into The Orifice”, Science Gallery London, London, UK
2016 “Animal and Us”, Digital Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 “Dutch Design Week”, Microlab, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2016 “Designer's Gaze”, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 “Coexist Exhibition - Try me”, Nanhai Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 “Bio Apartment Vol.3－Succession”, Radicalsign, Taipei, Taiwan
2015 “Digital Art Festival Taipei - Digitopia”, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan
2015 “Imaginary Body Boundary”, Digital Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2015 “Bio Apartment Vol. 2 - Colonization (Bio) ", h*ours cafe, Taipei, Taiwan
2014 “#HLab14:JOG”, Langgeng Art Foundation, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
2014 “Taxidermist’s Magical Play”, YIRI Arts, Tainan, Taiwan
2014 “Missing Words”, 182artspace, Tainan, Taiwan
2013 “ART KAOHSIUNG 2013”, Chateau de Chine Hotel Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2013 “YOUNG ART TAIPEI (YAT) Contemporary Hotel Art Fair”, Sheraton Grande Taipei Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan
2013 “The Incubator - Biology + Science + Art Interdisciplinary Exhibition ”, Freedom Men Art Apartments, Taichung,
Taiwan
2013 “The League of Creators”, Taichung City Cultural Center Wen Ying Hall, Taichung, Taiwan
2013 “Worlds Apart Fair”, Conrad Hotel, Singapore
2012“The Ambiguous Pink Project – Organic Mimicry of Prosthesis / Fred Ku Solo Exhibition”, Mon Espace D'Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2012 “You Just Can’t Get What You Want”, A－7958 Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan
2012 “Both”, Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
2012 “Exhibition of the Newly Emerging Artists in Taiwan 3D Creation Series”, Taichung City Seaport Art Center, Taichung, Taiwan
2012 “There Is No Reason”, Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
2012 "Asia Contemporary Art Show - Hong Kong", Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2012 “Party Is Over”, Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
2012 “Geisai Taiwan 3 Winners Exhibition”, Hidari Zingaro Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
2012 “Cos-Cosmos”, Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
2011 “Geisai Taiwan 3”, Huashan1914 Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan