Yaolan Violet Luo

Yaolan Violet Luo is a multidisciplinary designer and artist who is fascinated by information production and our relationships with machines. Since graduating from DAE’s Information Design MA in 2015, Luo has created a broad body of work that spans book design, product design, performance, installations, sound experiments, painting and curating. Uniting these works is Luo’s interrogation of difficult questions such as: What is truth? Can – and should – robots and humans co-create? And, how does surveillance impact creative production?   

Luo’s graduation project ‘Amnesia State’ explored “digital forgetting” and surveillance through a film and book. It led her to win the prestigious Young Talent Award, from the Stimuleringsfonds in 2016. Over the past decade, she has exhibited internationally, completed residencies in Switzerland and Shanghai and was a member of the Young Curators Support Program at the Guangdong Museum of Art. 

Here, Luo talks about how her practice has developed amidst rapid shifts in information production and cultural developments across the world.  

Lara Chapman: After living in the US and Europe for a number of years, you returned to China in 2018. Why did you decide to move home?  

Yaolan Violet Luo: One of the reasons I chose to go back to China was to start a curating practice there with some friends. My interest in curating began when I was working at Droog, in the Netherlands, on an installation for the Shenzhen Art Biennale. From there, I became interested in organising things and trying to put topics together in a way that is relevant to society. We did a few exhibitions, but when COVID arrived we had to slow down. 

LC: You paused on curating but began making new works, right? 

YVL: Yes, I started making paintings with robots, exploring the intersection between art, design and technology. I established a studio focusing on this and the work became a really nice form of self expression. I also found that painting as a final outcome makes sense as a commercial form – it is something that can be purchased by a person or museum and be put into circulation. It’s a sustainable way to be a creative person in China, as there is not much access to funding. 

LC: What led your to want to collaborate with robots to create paintings? 

YVL: I was interested in exploring how quickly information is developing nowadays – both on the internet and now with AI – and how this has changed how people receive information. My interest in the interaction between technology and humans stems from the research I began at DAE into digital surveillance and digital censorship. 

What ethics should we be considering between robots and humans? If robots are neutral, what happens when large companies control them?

LC: How do code robots to collaborate? 

YVL: I designed an AI code that is very basic, there is no big data behind it as it’s based on random numbers. I want my robots to be entry-level – like vacuum cleaners – because I don't think that super intelligent machines should be invading human consciousness. The code instructs the robots to make predictions based on probability. 

LC: You show the process of co-creating with your robots through performances and installations in galleries and public spaces. Is the display of collaboration intended as a provocation? 

YVL: I want to blur the barriers between machine-made and human-made to show that reality is quite chaotic, especially right now. So yes, the performances pose questions: What ethics should we be considering between robots and humans? If robots are neutral, what happens when large companies control them?  

LC: One of the things you’ve undertaken since moving home is the Young Curators Support Program at the Guangdong Museum of Arts. How did this help you understand your role as a designer, curator and artist in China?  

YVL: Over the last 10 years, the art scene and creative industries in China have developed a lot. Many museums have opened and younger generations have new ideas – especially those who have had the chance to study abroad and travel. There is starting to be money to support creative culture through programs like the one I did at the Guangdong Museum of Arts. However, because of a big focus on heritage, it’s not always easy to do forward-thinking or more critical projects.  

LC: Did your desire to engage in more critical thinking lead you to undertake the Philosophy MA (which you recently completed, congratulations!) at The University of Hong Kong? 

YVL: Yes, I wanted to be develop my thinking around concepts of truth, knowledge and ethics in relation to machines. Having worked in the art and design industries for more than 10 years, learning new things has been a real luxury – I treasured it. Pursuing a humanities perspective was super challenging but it was good to explore different areas. I think designers and artists need to learn about other disciplines to understand how the world is working.  

In a Chinese art school I taught at, the curriculum included studying anthropology and social sciences because students need to learn more than drawing, right? They need to understand what has happened to human beings, human life and society historically and what’s happening today. I think that’s also how I learnt to approach things at DAE. 

LC: How will what you discovered on this degree inform your work going forward?  

YVL: I have some new ideas around truth, knowledge, symbols and semiotics. I’m not yet sure exactly how I am going to transform these ideas into a material form or what medium they will take – maybe I’ll return to making books or maybe it will be a series of new, very different paintings…