About
Nuka Nayu 루카 나유
I use ‘Chaos’ as a method to direct my work, and ‘making strange’ as a focal point to bring about modes of stimulation. My work consists of performance, improvisations, choreography, prose, installation, diagrams, sculptures, sound, costume, digital-environments, and moving image. I embody and perform monstrous characters outside the ambit of conventional performance; attempting to challenge witness’ cultural boundaries. I investigate various characters and crafts, through the fabrication of disturbing but comforting non-chronological situations, showing similarities with familiar environments, and subtly exaggerating or twisting recognisable materials to incorporate reimagined mythological narratives and alternate historical meanings, with opposing themes of the archaic and contemporary. My practice can be described as an invoking of hauntological fragments; infinite in their non-completion of the absent and invisible. Creating a psychological map which decodes what is buried in passivity while leaving traces of 'becoming' in deceit. What I present is comprised of fragmented (singular-plural) events; my practice is inevitably multidisciplinary. These themes are informed by the anthropological interactions and investigations I carry out: experiences with shamans, alchemists, cult members, paranormal investigators, treasure hunters, conspiracy theorists, prophets and occult groups to aggregate a shadow of social norms which become vantage points of illusive realities.
CV
Education
Royal College of Art/ MA Sculpture
September 2018 - July 2020
Goldsmiths, University of London / BA Fine Art (Hons) (Extension Degree)
September 2010 - July 2014
Awards/Residencies
2023 Mark Tanner Sculpture Award; Longlisted, Standpoint Gallery
2022 Prix Ars Electronica; Honorary mention
2021 Chang/ce Commission Open Call; Winner, BAGRI Foundation
2021 January Resident: 1 month Residency, Queercircle
2021 Studio Voltaire/LOEWE Studio awards; Longlisted, Studio Voltaire
2021 SPACE Artist Awards 2021; Shortlisted, SPACE studios
2021 British Fashion Council: NEW WAVE: 1st Round Nominee
2020 SLG Postgraduate Residency 2020-2021; Shortlisted, South London Gallery
2020 Sanitasia Sanitation Gala Competition; Winner, Stockholm Fringe Festival
2020 SPUR: Virtual 6 months Residency; CORE member, Chaos Magic Space
2020 Harlow Art Trust: Sculpture Town Artist in Residence; Shortlisted
2020 Back on Track Fund, Royal College of Art
2020 Edinburgh College of Art Exchange, a programme ran by Royal College of Art
2016 Residency: RAID, LARA, Unit 28, Penarth Centre, London
2014 HFBK Hamburg Exchange, Goldsmiths College, University of London
2013 Master Class: Martha Rosler, New York; a programme ran by Goldsmiths College, University of London
Solo Exhibition
2016 ‘RAID 2: Nayu Kim’, LARA, Unit 28, Penarth Centre, London
Group Exhibitions
2023 ‘Fluid Cosmologies’, Forma Arts and Media , London
2023 ‘It was a Roadside Picnic/Beyond Black Orientalism’ DAAD futurism, Format Festival
2022 ‘Destination: Other Worlds’, HOME, Manchester
2022 ‘Queer East Film Festival’, Artists’ Moving Images: Destination: Other Worlds + Q&A, CCA, Glasgow
2022 ‘Game Jame Showcase - Nature Godded Worlds’, QUAD, Derby
2022 ‘TIME TRAVEL ACROSS MANY-WORLDS’, BALTIC, Newcastle
2022 ‘Mudlark’, Generation & Display, London
2022 ‘2022 Queer East Film Festival’, Barbican Centre, London
2022 ‘GAME JAM’ session led by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Quard, Derby
2022 ‘super☆sonic’, Baesianz, London Short Film Festival, Rich Mix, London
2022 ‘It was a Roadside Picnic/Beyond Black Orientalism’ DAAD futurism, New Art City
2021 ‘Peach Fuzz’, Haze Projects, The Factory Project, London
2021 ‘Chang/ce’ commission, BAGRI Foundation
2021 ‘SPUR irl’, D-unit, Bristol
2021 ‘NEW ART WORLD’, Guts Gallery, London
2021 ‘SPACE LAPSE: RCA SCULPTURE 2020’, The Royal Society of Sculptors, London
2021 'Old Friends, New Friends', Collective Ending, London
2021 ‘SPUR CORE MEMBER; Public presentation, SPUR WORLD
2021 ‘Part of the Community’, Student Union website, Royal College of Art
2021 ‘Ephemeral vs Ethereal’, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham
2020 ‘RCA Fundraiser Livestream for Beirut’, Royal College of Art
2020 ‘AOS’, Arebyte Gallery, London
2020 ‘Mushrooms in the dark’, 33 E Dulwich Grove, London
2020 ‘Sanitasia Gala’, Orionteatern, Stockholm Fringe Festival, Stockholm
2020 ‘ARC Magazine: Dirty Issue’ Montez Radio, New York
2020 ‘ARC Magazine: Dirty Issue; launch night’, Royal College of Art, London
2020 ‘a fish you have already caught’, created by Ed Compson, Battersea park, London
2020 ‘RCA2020’, Royal College of Art, London
2019 ‘Gut Magazine issue 5 launch night’, LN-CC, London
2019 'The Oscar Wilde Temple Artists’ Group Performance Night', Studio Voltaire, London
2019 'Everything you need to know about Sculpture', Orozco Garden, South London Gallery, London
2019 'Sculpture Zoo Keepers', Hackney Gallery, Stevens Building, Royal College of Art, London
2019 'Working-in-Progress Show', 3rd Floor, Darwin Building, Royal College of Art
2015 ‘MONO’, Courtyard Theatre, London
2014 'Goldsmiths BA Fine Art Degree Show', Goldsmiths, University of London, London
2014 'The Two Sevens Clash', DIG, London
2014 'Women's Day', DIG, London
2014 'To Fly To Serve', HFBK Hamburg, Hamburg
2013 ‘Reflection of Society on Contemporary art’ at Telecom ParisTech, Engineering School in Paris, Paris
2013 'S.I.R', Red Gallery, London
2011 'T R A N S P L A N T E D', Goldsmiths, University of London, London
Experiences
2022 - Current: working as a teaching assistant to SEND students at Hackney Fine Arts
2020 - Current: working as a Studio Assistant for Jonathan Baldock
2020 Camberwell: led a performance workshop
2018-2020 UCA: Farnham teaching experience per academic year
2020 Westminster: one-day tutorials to student, led one-day drawing workshop
2016 - 2018: Private Art Tutor to age group between 5 - 17
Talks & Publications
Panel Talk QUEERCIRCLE & the VoV on 29th June 2021
https://www.thevov.art/on-demand/thevov-unites-exploring-safe-space
1 -Month-Residency in January 2021 at QUEERCIRCLE
http://www.queercircle.org/artist/nuka-nayu/
http://www.queercircle.org/inspiration-nuka-nayu/
http://www.queercircle.org/in-conversation-with-nuka-nayu/
AOS arebyte Gallery on 20th Sept - 4th Oct https://aos.arebyte.com/contents/nuka-nayu-sleepawake-chaoskampf/
Creatives4SystemicChange (online), 28th June 2020 - 4th July https://www.creatives4systemicchange.com/contact
Featured in the Article on Linkedin by Howard Sullivan on 4th August 2020
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/double-reality-howard-sullivan
ARC magazine (online), ‘Careless limbs’ featured in ‘ARC Magazine: Dirty Issue, featured in week 9 31st July 2020 https://arcmagazine.org/pieces/internal/careless-limbs/
Mentioned in the article on Made in bed by Vienna Kim, 16th July 2020, https://www.madeinbed.co.uk/reviews/i-was-invited-to-the-royal-college-of-art-online-degree-show-private-viewing-with-mixed-emotions