“It’s now been a month since I arrived at Delfina Foundation. The initial post-travel quarantine period gave me time to really think about the project I wanted to embark on here and sketch out a plan for it. I actually found it really productive to have to stay put and focus on my work. Maybe this could be a new tradition for future residents…”
“This is a selection of the books I have in my room here related to my current research into oology (the study of birds’ eggs). The Most Perfect Thing (2016) is one of the first books I read on the subject. I packed The Mushroom at the End of the World (2017), because, like my own project, it focuses on one natural object and explores its diverse entanglements. A Potted History (2015) surveys the amazing English ceramic collection of Henry Willett – an inspiration for my own collection of popular Taiwanese ceramics, which I share on my Instagram account @toss.slot.crack. On the top of the publication Fragile (2020) you can see some pigments I selected based on the colour-mix to create eggshell.”
“These are some gemstone eggs and archives I brought with me to London, as they are also inspirations to my project. The lithographs are from the German Encyclopaedia Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1839) and the gemstone eggs originate from many different parts of the world.”
“On the right is a German Shepherd dog figurine from Taiwan, he is one of my earliest collection items, from 2012, which later led to my solo show No Country for Canine in 2019. On the left is his English brother. I found him at Hackney flea market here in London. Alongside these are some white chalkstone, which I gathered in my recent trip to Brighton. Calcium carbonate can be used in ceramic and is also the main compound that egg shells are formed of.”
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Chuan-Lun Wu (Taiwan/Germany) is an artist-in-residence during Delfina Foundation’s summer 2021 season. His residency is supported by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan (ROC) with additional support from Delfina Foundation’s Network of Asia-Pacific Patrons.
Photos artist’s own.