I make the babies it gave me
Chaya Shen
Description
I make the babies it gave me is a sculpture series made of tin. The 12 pieces originate from the artist’s own ultrasound images generated during a gynaecologist’s visit. The bodily representation was translated three times — through AI generative models and 3D sculpting, then brought back into the physical world by the artist’s hands.
Extracting the pain inscribed in the medical data, the artist sought the autonomy compartmentalised and reduced amid the medical apparatus.
The betweenness of the senses, the touches that localise the body and the vitality that communes from one being to another are stripped away as a patient is confronted with technological innovation used to analyse, dissect and diagnose the body. Thus, the artist attempts to reanimate them, persisting in creation through the machine and the human, in an effort to reclaim the meaningfulness that resides in the continual exchange between the subject and the world.
Chaya Shen
Chaya Shen is a Taiwanese interdisciplinary artist working across sculptural installation, lecture, sound, performance and writing, exploring the intersection of human-machine intra-action, particularly regarding female bodies.
She comes from an animation background and is currently completing a diploma in media art. Over time, her work has shifted from representation toward material inquiry, especially in the medical field, as well as in cultural traditions and scientific methods, exploring how bodies are read, measured and made legible.
She has participated in exhibitions internationally, given workshops and lectures (Politics of the Machines, Perth), and has published a paper on Conflict, Justice, Decolonization in ICCS in Taiwan. She received the Förderpreise der Freunde der KHM in 2025, an award promoted by the association FRIENDS of KHM. As a member of soft rotation, she has organised the sound performance series at 674fm in Cologne, together with Ting Chun Liu, Jannika Lösche, Christopher Theophanous and Dennis Aycicek.
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