I am a UK-based artist and doctoral researcher at Birmingham City University's School of Architecture. My current research investigates how urban expansion and historic neighborhood gentrification are reshaping cities, transformations that frequently occur at the expense of cultural identity and belonging.
I examine architectural elements as palimpsests of memory, where meaning and spatial dissonance coexist in rapidly evolving urban landscapes. My practice-based research combines artistic methods with ethnographic approaches to trace how these material fragments mediate temporal discontinuities between past and present, particularly for displaced communities.
As traditional urban textures yield to modernity, my work seeks to answer: How does collective memory mutate when its physical anchors vanish? What identity negotiations emerge when environments become unmoored from historical narratives? Grounded in these tensions, this interdisciplinary inquiry documents both the epistemic erasures and creative adaptations generated by contemporary urban transformation.
Educational
2025 PhD in Art, School of Architecture, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom
2018 MA in Design, School of Design, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark
2016 BA in Three-Dimensional Design, University for the Creative Arts, United Kingdom
2012 Fine Arts School Affiliated to China Central Academy of Fine Arts, China
Professional
2020 Studio Artist, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
2018 Artist Residency, Guldagergaard – International Ceramic Research Center, Denmark
Private collection
2019 Work held in the collection of the International Ceramic Research Center, Denmark
Exhibitions
‘‘Network project 2018’’ Apple Gallery Denmark 2019
‘‘2018 Franz Project’’-Rising Star Gallery China 2018
”Løsninger”, KADK Afgangsudstilling-Graduation exhibition Denmark 2018
“Interpretations”, CLAY Museum of Ceramics Art, Denmark and Royal Copenhagen A\S-Ceramics group exhibition Denmark 2017
Graduation exhibition, University for the Creative Art-Graduation exhibition United Kingdom 2016
“Circus of Materials”, 3rd Farnham Scouts Gallery-Group exhibition United Kingdom 2015
UCA year show, University for the Creative Art-Exhibition for material experiment United Kingdom 2014
CSVPA year show, Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts United Kingdom 2013
CAFA Year Show, Central Academy of Fine Art-Graduation exhibition China 2012
Contact
wenbo_deng@outlook.com