ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I live in a state of confrontation — between Asian culture (where I lived for 20 years) and Western culture in which I currently reside. Above all, I am a witness to globalisation, high-tech genetic transplantation and all that results from these phenomena. These are the impulses that motivate me to reflect on the “mix” or “hybridization” — these have become for me the focus of artistic interest. As such, I have attempted to create hybrids out of existing spaces, cultural symbols, daily objects, etc. in order to invent new things that we aren’t used to seeing because they still belong in the future.

I recently established the L.C. Company which manufactures art objects that promote my products and materialize my ideas. It is a project-in-progress and I intend to pursue the development of these “hybrid” concepts by using other artistic means such as video, the Internet, and patterns — but that is another matter.

Yi Chu Chen

CHOUX L.C.
Sculpture and Textile Installation

This young artist proposes an “anticipatory” voyage to the year 2030, a mix between science and fiction. According to Chen, in this not-too-distant future the frenetic activity of our human society has affected the way we eat food. A nutritional imbalance leads to the appearance of the LTB virus, the cancer of the 22nd century.

In response, Yi Chu Chen creates the L.C. Company to combat the virus by manufacturing natural foods which balance our nutritional deficiencies. She begins to produce “monsters” — fruits of the new genetic technology (genetic transplantation)— which combine the properties of both meat and vegetables. These aesthetically attractive prototypes may very well be commonplace in our world of tommorrow.

IN THE NAME OF THE BRAND

In the work of Yichu Chen the Brand is transformed into a jealous and fickle entity, watching out for the slightest quiver of collective desires and aiming at establishing the loyalty of its subjects at any cost. Like a ferocious little monster, the Brand is encouraged by the rise in individualism with vanity following in its wake. It becomes a source of valorization, directly linked to self-esteem and serves as a barometer of personal success. The logical consequence, long-term satisfaction, becomes impossible and only suffering marks the utopic quest for happiness. We desire too much in the wrong way.

Natalia Grigorieva (Translation: Marie Scorca)