Skip to main content
Sculpture (MA)

Congcong Wu

Congcong Wu is an international young artist who has studied in China, Australia, the UK and the U.S. She works with ideas of multiculturalism, scale and dimension, qualities of emotion, the experience of ageing, a degree of absurdity, and the overlooked aspects of everyday life. Her art practice embodies multiple forms of media including drawing, painting, print, sculpture, installation and digital media. 

Congcong is currently working with ceramics and vegetables to improvise with unexpected combinations such as clay and aubergines. The aubergine is a humorous device that evolved through her ceramic work. This project has included real aubergines, tiny metal aubergines and 3D printed aubergine, all playing with form, material and function.

For example, this is producing small scale humorous sculptures made from aubergine flesh: a pumpkin, a Christmas tree, twisting forms and so on. Also Congcong UV printed the aubergine photos on stones and built an ‘Aubergine Stonehenge’. The aim is to have fun with different ways of comprehending the materials, to “misunderstand” them and turn them towards unexpected results. Ultimately, the idea is to work at a much larger scale, after many more experiments. Also based on the ideas of different possibilities of aubergines, she also made a series of ceramic works to discover more 'unidentified species'. These experimental works formed the Aubergine Universe, which indicates improvisation, accident, and playfulness.

Congcong graduated from UAL: Chelsea College of Art and currently is studying Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. Her artworks have been exhibited worldwide in cities such as Sydney, London, Shanghai and Rome.

Show Location: Battersea campus: Studio Building, First floor

Congcong Wu-statement

In the Aubergine universe, there are metal aubergines, ageing aubergines, aubergine emoji, aubergine Stonehenge, a series of special unidentified species such as A seated Hammerhead Shark, Old aubergine with the hat, A sweet potato with the fake hair etc. All those characters (works) are like the neighbours in this aubergine universe, some characters will change through the time, such as the real aubergines are ‘ageing’ which are shrinking and decaying by time. Also, some characters will have a different interesting reaction. The metal aubergine goes on a journey with Congcong’s daily life and the journey is recorded in photos, some photos are more ‘boring and daily’ and some are more theatrical. The stories between them also reflect daily life with her friends. The Aubergine Universe is her improvisation practice, which experience the art practice as her art practice.



Are you Aubergine?, media item 1
Are you Aubergine?, media item 2
Are you Aubergine?, media item 3
Are you Aubergine?, media item 4
Unidentified Species no.1, media item 1
Unidentified Species no.1, media item 2
Unidentified Species no.2, media item 1
Unidentified Species no.2, media item 2
Unidentified Species no.3, media item 1
Unidentified Species no.3, media item 2
Unidentified Species no.4, media item 1
Unidentified Species no.4, media item 2
Unidentified Species no.5, media item 1
Unidentified Species no.5, media item 2
Unidentified Species no.6, media item 1
Unidentified Species no.6, media item 2
Aubergine family photos, media item 1
Aubergine family photos, media item 2
Aubergine family photos, media item 3
Aubergine family photos, media item 4
Aubergine family photos, media item 5
Aubergine family photos, media item 6
Aubergine family photos, media item 7
Aubergine family photos, media item 8
Metal Aubergine journey, media item 1
Metal Aubergine journey, media item 2