when you are forging, don't forget to close your eyes.
OU Jiun-You (歐軍佑) was born in Taipei, Taiwan, currently lives and works in Vienna (AT) and Taipei (TW).
With a social science degree in international relations from National Taiwan University (TW), she started her artistic practices mostly by self-taught in Taiwan since 2008. After working and teaching in the field of metalsmithing for some years, the interests in stone led her to start the MFA study in Hochschule Trier, Idar-Oberstein campus (DE) in 2015, and later on Erasmus exchange in the department of jewellery and blacksmithing, Estonian Academy of Arts (EE) from 2016 to 2017. Since 2018, she has been working as an artist and lecturer in Europe/Taiwan.
The methodologies and working methods of OU Jiun-You could be unfolded from both anthropological and psychological approaches. As a bricoleur and a practicer toward individuation, she realizes her thoughts with various media into (wearable) objects and (performative) installations. Since 2020, with more focus back on her own body, she has become interested in intertwined relations between personal medical history and self-optimization in a broad sense. She has been working on them with objects and site-specific installations.
OU Jiun-You was awarded Justus Brinckmann Förderpreis 2022 (DE), Staatspreis für das Kunsthandwerk RLP 2022 (DE), TALENTE Prize 2014 (DE), among others. She is also the recipient of GSSA scholarship of the Ministry of Education (TW), Deutschlandstipendium (DE), Residency Grants of Ministry of Culture (TW), Annual Regular Grants of National Culture and Arts Foundation (TW), and so on. Her works are in the public collections of Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (DE), Taiwan Art Bank (TW), and private collectors mainly from Germany as well as Taiwan.
*complete CV available upon request