Carry-on, 2024
Andrew Luk’s sculpture and installation practice reimagines the materials and narratives of outer space to explore the fluidity of authenticity and identity. His work connects history with potential futures, challenging traditional notions of authorship and control. Luk’s fragmented sculptures emphasize the vulnerability and impermanence of the self, destabilizing artistic authority and inviting open-ended interpretations. Contradictions between subject and object, creation and meaning, move toward ontological questioning, offering a more humble worldview.
When an astronaut took the famous photograph titled Earth’s Moon in 1969, it was said to have captured every human being—except for the photographer himself. In that image, half of Earth is swallowed by darkness, no individual is visible, and the only sign of life is the astronaut who took the photo. Similarly, Luk turns to outer space as a metaphor for inner space—the deepest facets of identity and our response to groundedness and flux. What does it mean to exist in constant change?
Space exploration began as a substitute for conflict and it continually mirrors Earth’s geopolitical conflicts, yet it operates under distinct celestial concerns. This paradox shifts perspective, de-centering Earth and fostering cosmic thinking, while also revealing a deeper contradiction—space exploration as human hubris and a new form of 21st-century colonization. Luk adopts the lens of a historical anthropologist, tracing the cultural markers that have shaped space exploration. By examining the past, he seeks to preserve humanity within the accelerating technocratic future, offering both critique and the potential for a more reflective, interconnected world.
When an astronaut took the famous photograph titled Earth’s Moon in 1969, it was said to have captured every human being—except for the photographer himself. In that image, half of Earth is swallowed by darkness, no individual is visible, and the only sign of life is the astronaut who took the photo. Similarly, Luk turns to outer space as a metaphor for inner space—the deepest facets of identity and our response to groundedness and flux. What does it mean to exist in constant change?
Space exploration began as a substitute for conflict and it continually mirrors Earth’s geopolitical conflicts, yet it operates under distinct celestial concerns. This paradox shifts perspective, de-centering Earth and fostering cosmic thinking, while also revealing a deeper contradiction—space exploration as human hubris and a new form of 21st-century colonization. Luk adopts the lens of a historical anthropologist, tracing the cultural markers that have shaped space exploration. By examining the past, he seeks to preserve humanity within the accelerating technocratic future, offering both critique and the potential for a more reflective, interconnected world.