VALS Visiting Artist Lecture Series with Yu-Wen Wu

Hosted by our Fine Arts MFA program, VALS is one of several free and open-to-the-public events we offer each year. Follow us on Instagram @prattfineart to see what’s coming up, and we look forward to welcoming you soon!

’s work lies at the interconnections of art, science, social and cultural issues and the natural world. Themes in her work include time, transformation, global migration and storytelling. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, her experiences as an immigrant are central to her artwork creating an intersection of personal narrative and global discourse. In migration, multi-layered transcultural identities develop associating place, cultural practices and what it means to belong. She uses materials as metaphors to express emotions, memories, and the multifaceted experience of the diaspora. Recent bodies of work engage materials associated with her Asian heritage such as tea, porcelain, and gold. She often uses organic materials reflecting on our relationship with the natural world and our environment. Her diverse body of work includes drawing, sculpture, site-specific video installations, community-engaged practices, and public art.

Wu recently installed the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Facade (Boston) where she was the 2024 artist-in-residence and was a 2023 recipient of the James and Audrey Foster Prize at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston. Her work has been featured at Taipei Dangdai, James Cohan Gallery New York and Praise Shadows Art Gallery in Brookline, MA.

She has received prominent public art commissions, including Lantern Stories (2020 and 2022) commissioned by the Greenway Conservancy, Lantern Stories San Francisco (2022). Institutional collections include Boston Public Library, Harvard Art Museums, ICA/Boston, MIT List Visual Art Center, Princeton University Art Museum. Her shows have been reviewed in New York Magazine, Boston Globe, Artnet News, BOMB Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others.

Previous VALS artists include: Diana Al-Hadid, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Izzy Barber, Judith Bernstein, Michael Berryhill, Wafaa Bilal, The Black School, Flaviu Cacoveanu, Pradeep Dalal, Abigail D. Deville, Nicole Eisenman, Florencia Escudero, Rochelle Feinstein, Keltie Ferris, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Scherezade García, Rico Gatson, Jeffrey Gibson, Mark Thomas Gibson, Nancy Grossman, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Edgar Heap of Birds, James Hyde, Laura Kalman, Lotus Kang, Nina Katchadourian, Elektra KB, eri king, Baseera Khan, Savannah Knoop, Leigh Ledare, Jennie Jieun Lee, Ann Lewis, Tau Lewis, Kalup Linzey, Ibrahim Mahama, Park McArthur, Alicia Mersy, Wardell Milan, Ayanah Moor, Lavar Munroe, Narcissister, Rashaad Newsome, Catherine Opie, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Alexis Rockman, Aura Satz, Shazia Sikander, Lorna Simpson, Nyugen E. Smith, Wendy Red Star, Brigitta Váradi, Dan Walsh, Hu Xiangqian, and Frank Wang Yefen.

We are grateful to the Robert Lehman Foundation for supporting this series.

Access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Dock 72 is restricted ONLY to those with an ID card of a visitor pass. All who RSVP here will receive an email with information on how to receive their Visitor QR Code Pass, which will be issued the morning of the event.

Please register each person attending the event with their individual email, so that they receive their own unique QR pass. Limit one pass per visitor.

You will receive a digital QR pass via email that will appear in your inbox as: DOCK 72 Visitor Check-in Tuesday, February 17 from [email protected] one hour ahead of the event. Please check your SPAM folder if you cannot locate it. NO PASS = NO ACCESS. This pass will be good for the date of the event only.

You will first use your pass to enter the Brooklyn Navy Yard at whichever gate is convenient. You can come by taxi (showing your pass to the guard to enter) but if you drive, you will need to park OUTSIDE the Navy Yard and walk in. There is NO parking at Dock 72.

Additionally, Dock 72 is situated next to the NYC Ferry and Citibike, and there are shuttles available on-site to and from MTA subway stops. For more info, please visit:

NOTE: If you are taking a taxi or rideshare to the Navy Yard, enter, as your drop-off and pick-up location. Enter the Navy Yard via Building 77, using your access QR code at the gates at the end of the hall in Building 77, past the food places. Rideshares and taxis are not allowed to enter the Navy Yard for pick-up.

When you arrive at Dock 72, enter the Lobby and then use your pass at ELEVATOR BANK C, which is the last elevator bank right at the end of the lobby (past the lobby cafe, near the exit door at the very end).
At the elevator bank, select Floor 3 on the digital pad, which will then indicate which elevator to take.

Event Venue

Dock 72, 1 Dock 72 Way, Brooklyn, United States

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