Luv for Sale

Curatorial Statement

Love becoming consumer goods is the real mirror of this contemporary society. As modernism was born a century ago out of mass commodity culture and continued into the 21st century, it is dystopias rather than utopias that reflects modern sensibility. When something is not priced, it gets discarded without delay for its value fails to be defined. So does love.

In light of such conditions, only putting love in art up for sale can help human beings realise the importance of it. An artist like Wu Jiaru who often makes excursions in the world of mysticism and romanticism, is sparing no effort to turn the world inside out to manifest unconditional love through her practice of art. By building a unique version of utopia, where dystopian world is often the context, Wu’s works often invite us to explore most mundane issues from a brand new perspective.

愛成為消費品—這似是現代社會最真實的寫照。現代主義（modernism），從歷史的角度來說，於一個世紀前興起，使得商品成為文化的主體。這種商品化也隨著社會的推進，延續到二十一世紀，進入日常的生活領域。對烏托邦的想像變得不再受追捧，現實社會更似是反烏托邦世界—市場的定價成為一樣物品的價值標準，賦予這物品一種看似與生俱來的價值。愛這種神聖的情感也變得如此。

有見及此，似乎將愛擺入藝術再拿去賣，買到的人就會得到愛。吳佳儒作為一位常在神秘主義和浪漫主義世界遊走的藝術家，希望通過自己的藝術創作打造一個與現實世界相反的情境，是以昭昭毫無保留的愛。在反烏托邦的背景下，吳佳儒仍堅持對烏托邦的追求與討論，其建造出的理想世界，帶給觀眾一個全新的視角去看待一些日常事物。


About Wu Jiaru 吳佳儒

Wu Jiaru is an artist who currently works and lives in Hong Kong. She obtained her BA in Fine Arts and English Language from Tsinghua University in 2014, and her MFA from the School of Creative Media in City University of Hong Kong in 2017.

She experiments with imagined spaces and social norms in forms of installation, moving images, printed edition, image synthesis, etc. Wu’s practice covers a wide range of topics, including cross-boundary facilities, literature, modern service industries, manufacturing industries and innovation and technology, romantic relationships, business environment, quality living, education and talent, regional cooperation plans, ecology, as well as mechanisms and arrangements. Wu has participated in many good group exhibitions and her art is in the collection of some important people and organisations.

吳佳儒目前工作生活於香港。她2014年於清華大學獲藝術與英語學士雙學位，並於2017年取得香港城市大學創意媒體碩士學位。以裝置、影像、複製版本、渲染圖像等形式實驗於想象空間與社會現象之間。吳氏作品涵蓋範圍廣泛，包括跨界設施、 文學、現代服務業、製造業及科技創新、羅曼蒂克關係、營商環境、優質生活、教育與人才、區域合作規劃、生態學、神秘學，以及機制安排等。她曾經參與很多出色的展覽，其作品被一些重要人物和機構收藏。