Owen Chiou is an artist whose practice explores more-than-human relationships, multiplicity, and the fluidity of self. Their ongoing project, “We never fall apart, because we never fall together,” is conceived as an interactive and experiential assemblage that uses the idea of “social fermentation” to invite human and nonhuman agents to collaborate, interact, and shift between states of appearing and disappearing. Designed as a space for ritual and reflection, the project unfolds through diverse formats: a drag comedy series that interviews non-speaking objects; ceramics and films created in dialogue with the River Thames; and jars of fermented tea and vegetables that house live cultures of bacteria and yeasts. Across these forms, Chiou’s work dissolves boundaries between disciplines, species, and states of being, offering poetic and critical reflections on how life can be understood in multiplicity.

As part of the Young Climate Prize Cycle 02 Cohort, Owen was mentored by Lucy McRae, an Australian science-fiction artist and “body architect” based in Los Angeles. Known for her experimental practice spanning film, wearable technologies, installations, and speculative design, McRae’s mentorship helped Chiou deepen the project’s engagement with ecological speculation and embodied experience.