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

2023 Guest Tutor, MA Ecology Futures, Master Institute of Visual Cultures - St. Joost School of Art & Design 
2021-2023 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
2019-2023 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
2014-2020 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

01/12/2022      Queer Anatomy Lesson
                           National Congress STI*HIV*Sex 2022, Utrecht, Netherlands
                           Tutor with dermatologist Henry de Vries

23/11/2022      Drawing an Atlas of Queer Anatomy
                           MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, Netherlands
                           Tutor with dermatologist Henry de Vries

09/10/2022     Cli-fi Workshop - Future Press Lab
                           Social Innovation Lab, Taipai, Taiwan
                           Tutor with climate scientist Yi-Chi Wang

02/10/2022     Bio Art Workshop - Filthy Anatomy Lesson
                           National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
                           Tutor with dermatologist Henry de Vries

31/03/2022     Food Design Workshop
                           Hosted by Dimension Plus TW and National Taichung Theater
                           National Chung-Hsing Senior High School
                           Taichung Municipal Dajia Senior High School
                           Tutor

02/08/2020    Designing Disease - the Theatre of Future Medicine
                           Department of Industrial Design, Shih Chien University
                           Tutor

02/08/2020    Imagining a Bio Lab
                           Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei, Taiwan
                           Tutor with Paul Gong

04/07/2020     Fictional Life: Hybridity, Transgenics, Innovation - Future Body Imagination
                            Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei, Taiwan
                            Tutor with Paul Gong

16/11/2019         Food Design Workshop (Microwave International New Media Arts Festival)
                           Exhibition Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong
                           Tutor with Adelaide Tam

30/06/2019     Heartbeat of the Earth
                           De Ketelfactory, Schiedam, Netherlands
                           Tutor with Arita Baaijens and Corine Datema

14/01/2019         Bioart - Imagining the Laboratories of Artists
~16/01/2019       Department of New Media Art, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan
                             Tutor with Paul Gong, Theresa Tsao, Pei-Ying Lin

13/10/2018       Asian Futurism Dinner
                           Natlab, Eindhoven, Netherlands
                           Artist with Pei-Ying Lin

06/10/2018      Tiger Penis: The Future of Chinese Medicine
                           Mediamatic, Amsterdam, Netherlands
                           Artist

04/10/2018      The body as sensor: fortune telling by pulse
                           Waag Society, Amsterdam, Netherlands
                           Artist

09/06/2018     Workshop derived from the Tiger Penis Project - Workshop About Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
                           Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, Netherlands
                           Artist

13/10/2017       Workshop with Kuang-Yi Ku
                           FACT  Lab, Liverpool, UK
                           Tutor

29/07/2017,       Workshop of Biological Fortunetelling
05/08/2017       Yiri Living Space, Taipei, Taiwan
                             Tutor with Pei-Ying Lin, Paul Gong, Ai Hasegawa and Yiyun Chen

02/11/2016       Fellatio Modification Project: Sex and Dentistry Skills Workshop
                           London Dental Education Center, London, UK
                           Tutor

16/08/2015      Bio-fiction Taiwan - Bio-Art Workshop
                           National Taiwan Science Education Center, Taipei, Taiwan
                           Tutor with Pei-Ying Lin

30/05/2015     The Future of Body Modification - Bio-Art Workshop
                           National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
                           Tutor

14/11/2014         Bio-fiction of Electrophysiology - Bioart Workshop
~19/11/2014       Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
                            Tutor, with Pei-Ying Lin, Cheng Guo and Yi-Ling Wu                     

23/04/2014     Dildomancy - Sexology workshop
                           Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
                           Tutor, with Pechblenda and Cindy Lin

11/10/2013         “Living, Food, and Its Extend”  - Bioart Workshop
~ 12/10/2013      National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
                             Tutor, with Pei-Ying Lin


Conferences & Art Festivals

02/11/2022     “Border Sessions” Tech Culture conference
                          The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague, Netherlands
                          Speaker

16/10/2022      Technology and Art - “Grandmom Mom” Project
                          Science Communication Conference, National Science and Technology Council
                          National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
                          Speaker

22/09/2022        “Bat Food Lab”, Taipei Arts Festival
~25/09/2022      National Taiwan Science Education Center, Taipei, Taiwan
                               Attending artist

04/11/2019       “Brave New World” conference
                          Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
                          Speaker

07/09/2019    Gogbot conference
                          Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum, Enschede, Netherlands
                          Speaker

06/07/2019     Public event of Placebo effect conference
                          Rijksmuseum Boerhaave/Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
                          Attending presenter

29/08/2018~      4S Sydney - TRANSnational STS, Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Conference    
01/09/2018        Sydney International Convention Centre, Sydney, Australia
                              Attending presenter

01/10/2015      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
  
02/10/2014        Arse Elektronika - Conference of Sex and Technology
~05/10/2014      Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco, US
                             Attending presenter
                  
04/08/2014        TransHACKfeminist! - Conference of Feminism
~11/08/2014       Ca La Fou, Barcelona, Spain     
                              Attending presenter
                                  
13/04/2014        Hackterialab 2014
~25/04/2014      Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia


Exhibitions


2022 “Beyond Borders and Binaries”, MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2022 “The Planetarian”, Beijing Design Festival, Beijing, China
2022 “Reproduction Otherwise”, MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2022 “IWAKAN MAGAZINE 5th EXHIBITION”, gallery -1, Tokyo, Japan
2022 “WeWe Futures: 2040 Plurality”,  Taiwan Design Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2022 “Taoyuan Art x Technology Festival (TAxT)”,  Taoyuan Arts Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan
2022 “STUDIO(dys)TOPIA – At the Peak of Humankind”, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2022 “Entangled: bio/media”, Chronus Art Center (CAC), Shanghai, China
2022 “Zagreb Design Week”, Zagreb, Croatia
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


Talks

11/12/2022      “Making Love in the Zoo” Book Launch Event
                         Sexyland World, Amsterdam, Netherlands

03/10/2022       Artist talk “Interdisciplinary Practice of Artist & Scientist Collaboration”
                             National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

29/09/2022       “Deep Termite - Book Launch”
                              Kishu An Forest of Literature, Taipei, Taiwan

28/09/2022       Artist talk “Challenging biomedical paradigms through art and design”
                              National Chung-Hsing Senior High School, Nantou, Taiwan

14/06/2022       Broadcast “How to Biodesign #25: Open source biolab equipment & recipes”
                            An online program, BlueCity Lab, Netherlands

14/05/2022       “Queer Termite Project” - Art and Science online talk
                             An online program, Co-Evolution Research Assembly, Taipei, Taiwan

26/03/2022      “Heaven + Earth + Joe Davis” screening event
                             Jut Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

20/12/2020      #Food Design After Graduation, talk #108
                            online talk, Zuibishe, China

30/11/2020      Art, Design, Science, Future - Unbore's Pecha Kucha,
                           online event

28/11/2020      Science and Art Talk Screening - "Gene Noah's Ark"
                          National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan                  

05/11/2020     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
    
31/10/2020      Artist Talk (Taiwan Biennial)
                           VT Art Salon, Taipei, Taiwan

26/10/2020      What’s New Media Art?
                            National Taichung theater, Taiwan

12/09/2020      Genetic Biotech through the eyes of artists
                              Are Electronica Garden, Brussels, Belgium

19/04/2020      PANT Public #2 : What Now? Foreign Artists in the Netherlands
                            Online Event

29/02/2020      Uncertainty Seminars
                             Stroom, Den Haag, Netherlands

27/11/2019        BAU Lab “BioArt Meets Performance”
                           Waag Society + BAU Dance & Performance, Amsterdam, Netherlands

26/10/2019      TV program "De toekomstbouwers (The Future Builder)"  made by VPRO
                           Dutch National TV “NPO2”, Netherlands

23/05/2019     Challenging medical paradigms through art and design
                           University of the Underground, Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands

13/12/2018      Gogbot Café XL
                          Design lab, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

10/11/2017       Challenging medical paradigms through art and design
                          TEDxEindhoven. Philips Hall, Evoluon, Eindhoven, Netherlands

22/03/2017     Expanding the Body, Exploring Desire: Queer Research in Japanese and     
                          Taiwanese Contexts
                          Queer Asia, SOAS, University of London, London, UK

02/11/2016      The Fellatio Modification Project
                          Guy’s Campus, King’s College London, London, UK

20/04/2016    When Science Meets Art
                          UCA Farnham - University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK

28/03/2016    Embrace Art and Science
                          Taipei National University of the Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
                          With Pei-Ying Lin

21/03/2016   The Fellatio Modification Project
                         National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

22/02/2016    Transdisciplinary Practice of Art and Medicine
                          Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

20/02/2016    Art in Production Series
                          No Man’s Land, Taipei, Taiwan
                          With Bo-Wu Chen

27/06/2014    Fab Meetup - Food Fab - TW BioArt
                          Fabcafe Taipei
                          With Pei-Ying Lin

20/05/2014    BioArt in Asia - An Observation
                          Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan.
                          With Pei-Ying Lin

29/11/2013     Artists in Labcoats - BioArt
                         Makerbar, Taipei, Taiwan.
                         With Pei-Ying Lin