Jiayou Wu (Oliver)
About
Oliver is an experience designer, new media artist, and music producer from China. His multidisciplinary practice spans sound, interactive media, installations, human-computer interaction products, and architectural landscapes. Oliver also serves as a UX designer at a leading global technology company, where his work focuses on the integration of cutting-edge technology and artistic expression.
Oliver’s creative journey includes participation in the Venice Biennale’s China exhibition, Deep Green, where he contributed architectural illustrations. He is also the inventor of interactive musical gloves, holding multiple patents for his innovations. In 2022, he became the first artist to integrate his novel into game design using AI, an achievement that garnered attention from a prominent Beijing media tech company. During his studies at the Royal College of Art, Oliver collaborated with Digital Direction students on Still Waters Run Deep, a project that was invited to the IRCAM Forum at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where he served as a workshop speaker.
Describing himself as an escapist idealist, Oliver explains, “In the conflict between idealism and reality, I feel an invisible sense of tragic grandeur and sadness. This emotion permeates the tone of my work.” His creative inspiration is deeply rooted in personal experiences and societal phenomena. In his latest immersive installation, The Red Dawn, Oliver delves into speculative design, reflecting on the potential evolution of conspiracy theories into cult-like extremism. This work challenges audiences’ perceptions of information, truth, and reality, exploring how contemporary information environments shape human culture and society.
Oliver’s work is characterized by a fascination with conspiracy theories, collective imagination, and themes of the universe, the supernatural, aliens, and paranormal phenomena. Through his art, he often blurs the lines between fiction and reality, inviting viewers into a space where these boundaries are questioned and reimagined.
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