UWTSD doctoral student takes research into international art world
A University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) doctoral student has taken her research and creative practice to an international audience following an exhibition in Tokyo.
Photo Credit: LIN:K Projects
Yuran Lin, who is in the final stage of her Professional Doctorate in Art and Design at UWTSD, recently presented AI520 – Emotional Resonance at ARTGEN.GALLERY in Tokyo.
The exhibition, presented through Yuran’s curatorial platform LIN:K Projects, explored themes including love, intimacy, communication, cultural difference and human connection - themes that extend some of the broader concerns and practice-based approaches developed through her doctoral research.
Yuran’s research at UWTSD engages with autoethnography, cultural identity, community practice and participatory methodologies. Her practice brings together her work as an artist, curator and researcher, exploring how personal experiences can provide a starting point for wider cultural and social questions.
The Tokyo exhibition has now been featured in FLUX Magazine, an international online publication covering contemporary art and culture.
The FLUX interview explores how Yuran has developed her practice from personal experience towards creating opportunities for wider dialogue between artists and audiences.
Speaking about the relationship between her different areas of practice, Yuran says: “Art allows me to ask a deeply personal question; research helps me understand that question; and curating allows me to transform the question into a relationship.”
AI520 – Emotional Resonance began with a personal question about how people understand one another, but developed into a broader exploration of how people experience love, intimacy, distance and relationships in different ways.
The exhibition brought together artists from different backgrounds and included work exploring subjects such as communication, family, memory, migration, the body, technology and connection.
An Artist Talk held alongside the exhibition extended the conversation beyond the artworks, bringing artists, collaborators and audiences together, including participants who were unable to attend in person.
For Yuran, this process of moving from the personal to the wider public is an important part of her approach to research and creative practice.
“If AI520 had ultimately been nothing more than me putting my own love story into a gallery, that would not have been enough for me,” she explains in the FLUX interview.
“What really interested me was how a very personal question - ‘Why am I unable to understand this relationship?’ - could gradually become something broader: How do different people understand love, intimacy, distance and relationships?”
Her experience in Tokyo builds on a wider curatorial practice developed across across the UK, Europe, China, the US and Japan, and reflects her interest in creating connections between artists, communities, institutions and places.
Yuran says her doctoral research has played an important role in helping her understand and develop this practice, while her creative work provides a way of exploring research questions through real-world projects and relationships.
The Professional Doctorate in Art & Design at UWTSD enables experienced practitioners to undertake advanced research through their professional and creative practice, developing knowledge alongside their ongoing work in the field.
For Yuran, the relationship between research and practice has become central to the way she works.
“I really value my ability to transform experience into practice,” she says. “Pain can become a work of art, a question can become research, and a relationship can become a curatorial project.”
Her Tokyo exhibition marks another stage in the development of that practice, while the FLUX Magazine feature provides an international platform for her to discuss the ideas underpinning her work.
Yuran is now completing her Professional Doctorate in Art and Design at UWTSD and developing the next stage of her research into diasporic belonging, participatory practice and curatorial methodologies.
Further Information
Arwel Lloyd
Principal PR and Communications Officer
Corporate Communications and PR
Email: arwel.lloyd@uwtsd.ac.uk
Phone: 07384 467076