Yo-Yo Lin 林友友

Your favorite April fool~ Cut and slime green color by the one and only @adamchn_ 🦠💚🪀 Also… Happy 33rd year to me! 🥳 to take a page out of Snoop Dogg’s book, “I wanna thank ME” for making it another rotation around the sun, for staying curious and soft in a time when it feels like it’s better to close-off/ harden, for believing in love and practicing it every day, as much as I can, in the small ways that add up into a big way. Okay okay yes but actually if you’re still invested in reading this, you’re a part of my world and I love you for it. Thank YOU, for being here together with me, even if it’s on this godforsaken app. Your presence is a present. 🎁 Now let’s party! ✨

Yo-Yo Lin. Resilience Journal. 2019. Hardbound book. 5.5x8.5 inches. Yo-Yo Lin’s Resilience Journal is a seminal influence in the formation of the Soft Data/Base, as Lin, a disabled artist, introduces the project, “As those who sustain an illness/ disability, we often have a biodata footprint– where our health is quantified by medical practitioners through various medical tests and procedures. Instead of just focusing on the biodata of our illness, I am particularly interested in tracking the data that is usually overlooked in the experience of living with illness– the everyday, hard-to-grasp, “soft” data sets that are much more like poetry.” The journal, which Lin disseminates in multiple formats, is a tool for recording and tracking qualitative data across custom categories, resulting in hand-colored radial grids accompanied by diaristic entries on opposite pages. A note from the artist: The Resilience Journal was always intended to bridge the language gaps we have when it comes to experiencing and talking about illness. Creating a slow process to write and draw and reflect allowed me to grow a new understanding of my body, one that allowed me to develop a language for the hard-to-describe experiences of my day-to-day. Being able to articulate these experiences to myself and others has shaped my understanding of how to move through the world: advocating for myself and others in a largely ableist world. (continued in comments…)

Spent a dreamy weekend in the Matsu Islands visiting the 3rd edition of the Matsu Biennial. Many thanks to the @matsubiennial team for inviting us!~ It feels so good to be back at Matsu 8 years after we first came to film our documentary footage for the Blue Tears. The place still feels rather remote. Restaurants explained they didn’t have vegetables (my friend @darice.rice is vegan) because of supply chain issues. There are no Ubers on the islands. Stuck, I borrow a motorcycle from a man who I just met. Gritty. Generous. Salty. Such is way of life on Matsu. And yet, there were changes. A new bistro/ bar opened up on the main street, selling international brews. Our modest beach-front BnB with a refurbished bathroom. And most notably, the Matsu Biennial: a sprawling series of art installations across 4 of the main islands, inviting 55 different artists to create work that investigates and uplifts the history and culture of Matsu. This warrants a full substack post, but I’ll do my best to summarize: set in the landscape and old buildings of Matsu, the biennial offers a rare, deeper look into the rich local histories and unique culture of the islands, offering daring interventions in material, light, space, and community gatherings by artists from Taiwan and around the world. Black and white flower vases form a giant go board (Panthea Lee’s NOBODY’S PAWN, WE ARE…), fishing netting become a ghostly, webbed tunnel under black light (Ken + Julia Yonetani Web of Life), an old gymnasium— due to be torn down— filled with debris including Godzilla’s eyeball staring back at you among cases of nuclear waste (Yukinori Yanagi 2025 Project Godzilla)— these were just a few show-stopping works we saw on our “scavenger hunt” throughout the islands. What struck me the most was the way locals spoke about the artworks with a sense of pride, visiting different works on their time off work, or participated in the making-of, or acted as the docents of the installations. If you can get flights (or if you want to take a boat), go to the Matsu Biennial for closing weekend / before it ends November 16. It was one of the most memorable shows I’ve had the pleasure to attend.

潮電一歲 ONE MORE SPIN 11.08（六）6小時全日唱片派對 音樂與唱片、朋友與街區，這是一年的聲音軌跡。駐店 DJ 與客座 VJ 一起用音樂與影像慶祝潮電一歲生日。 跟著潮州街區市集派對，ONE MORE SPIN 邀你最喜歡音樂的朋友，漫舞潮電吧！ 日期｜2025.11.08（六） 時間｜15:00 – 21:00 地點｜潮電 Bar&RecordStore ONE MORE SPIN｜潮電漫舞派對 Slow Dance Afternoon 漫舞派對時段 15:00–18:00 搭配潮州街龍街區活動限定推出入場 潮電腸堡套餐 NT$350 內含： 🌭 潮電腸堡（臺式香腸 + 特製辣台味辣醬 + 手工麵包 + 沙拉） 🥤 指定飲品乙杯（冰甘蔗紅茶） 🪀台電文創限定限量扭蛋 ONE MORE SPIN Anniversary Party ｜潮電週年派對 18:00–21:00 入場方式： 低消一杯飲品 NT$200現場提供啤酒、調酒、無酒精飲品可選 Lineup 15:00–16:00 hypolong 16:00–17:00 niwei1117 17:00–18:00 vicki huang（all vinyl downtempo） VJ：yo-yo lin 18:00–19:30 AP–C 19:30–21:00 Andy Chiu 潮電 1st Anniversary — ONE MORE SPIN 11.08 (Sat)｜6-hour All-day Vinyl Party Music and records, friends and the neighborhood — this is the sound trail of a year. Resident DJs and guest VJs join forces with music and visuals to celebrate 潮電’s first anniversary. Along with the Chaozhou Street Market Party, ONE MORE SPIN invites you and your favorite music friends to dance through 潮電! Date｜2025.11.08 (Sat) Time｜15:00 – 21:00 Venue｜潮電 Bar & RecordStore ⸻ ONE MORE SPIN｜Slow Dance Afternoon 15:00–18:00 In collaboration with the Chaozhou Street Market event, we’re offering a limited special set for entry: 潮電 Hot Dog Set NT$350 Includes: 🌭 潮電 Hot Dog（Taiwanese sausage + special spicy sauce + handmade bun + salad） 🥤 One drink (Iced Sugarcane Black Tea) 🪀 Limited 台電文創 capsule toy ⸻ ONE MORE SPIN Anniversary Party｜潮電週年派對 18:00–21:00 Entry: Minimum order of one drink (NT$200) Beer, cocktails, and non-alcoholic options available on site. ⸻ Lineup 15:00–16:00 hypolong 16:00–17:00 niwei1117 17:00–18:00 vicki huang (all vinyl downtempo) VJ：yo-yo lin 18:00–19:30 AP–C 19:30–21:00 Andy Chiu

✨summer highlight reel: bandanas, linen dresses, sweet basil on cherry tomatoes, flushed pink sunsets, afternoon thunderstorms, hi-fi dream pop in bed, laughing too loud, scream singing Defying Gravity, embarrassing confessions, dancing with friends, dancing on my own, and sweat so much sweat~ 🌞💦 夏天過了真快，每天越來越愛上我這裡的生活💞 image descriptions in comments to come

spring 2025 ⛰️ we climbed to the top of the pagoda at 陽明山 and realized we were early- the cherry blossoms were still tightly bundled in their buds, waiting for warmer days to emerge. we turn and gaze at the distant mountain, who seems to be gazing at us right back. “Whoa, do you feel that?” my dad asks. “The spirit of the mountain is saying hi to us.” 🌸 Later, down in the city where the cherry blossoms have already made their debut, I link up with @kaylabriet to work on the music for the Blue Tears documentary. We order take-out and she shows me how to use the looper. We geek out about accordion music and tube amplifiers and early YouTuber culture. And then I watch as she plays the piano and sings, recording bits here and there to layer into her composition. It’s mesmerizing. Days are spent like this, among continuing to go to treatments, eat well, exercise, sleep, better choices always, every day. It feels weird but also great to be on my own. Music sounds better, my heart feels lighter, even in the middle of the darkness I witness in the news. Building my life has been the hardest task these past couple years and the path continues, but somewhere in the past few months I started feeling myself again. More maybe later (; Catching up on posting some of my favorite photos from my trusty Olympus camera. More to come. Lomography color negative 35 mm ISO 800 (love the color of this film stock!) IDs to come.

Yo-Yo Lin, a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, creates meditative 'memoryscapes' that reveal the complex realities of living with chronic illness. Refusing Western medicalization, her practice facilitates community-centered spaces for exploring embodied technologies, self-knowledge, and the 'soft data' of illness experiences. From installations to workshops, Lin's work uplifts diverse modes of resilience and care. In her latest conversation with Trisha Baga, she discusses how she embraces the playful and collaborative nature of combining diverse materials and methods to create work that defies the sleekness of much contemporary tech. Read their full conversation at the #linkinbio. Portrait photo courtesy of the artist. [ID: A thin Taiwanese femme with bleach blonde hair and black wing eyeliner sits on their fire escape surrounded by basil leaves in their garden. The words: "2024 USA Fellow" "Yo-Yo Lin" "Artist" and "Brooklyn, New York" appear in white text on the bottom left corner.]

According to Trisha and Yo-Yo, embracing the messy, playful nature of technology is where true artistry blossoms. Read their full conversation at the #linkinbio about how incorporating different materials, textures, and unexpected combinations can make technology feel more human and expressive, rather than sterile and functional. [ID: Purple text reads: "I definitely prefer technology to be dirty. If not, then there's nothing human injected into it. We're following the flow of how technology wants us to think, which is buying and selling and commanding." The quote is attributed to 2024 USA Fellow Trisha Baga, an Interdisciplinary Artist from Queens, New York.] [ID: Purple text reads: "I feel like oftentimes technology is so sleek and used for the spectacle factor. There's so much more in the tactility of combining different materials and having different layers and different ways of expanding space. It reminds me just how playful technology can be." The quote is attributed to 2024 USA Fellow Yo-Yo Lin, an Artist from Brooklyn, New York.]

c h a n n e l s At last, we’ll be sharing video documentation from our performance at The Shed from 2022 for the first time for an art+tech group exhibition at @hek_basel August 30th- Nov 17th. Here is a sneak peek. (sound up for some connective tissue 🎶 ). Along with the performance video, the exhibition will also showcase the performance garment/ cyborgian couture designed by Weijing Xiao. Video has CC and Audio Description on-site. ✨ Repost: We‘ll celebrate the exhibition opening of «Tools for Change» during @kunsttagebasel on Friday, 30.08.2024 from 7-11pm! This international group exhibition, curated by @juliaxgulia considers artists as inventors of «tools for conviviality» and brings together a broad spectrum of artistic positions that create alternative visions for technology and society by emphasising access, creativity, justice, and interdependence. Artists: Tega Brain/Benedetta Piantella/Alex Nathanson, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Anna Ehrenstein, Fragmentin, ISSA, Nicole L’Huillier, Yo-Yo Lin & Weijing Xiao, Vanessa Lorenzo, Mary Maggic, mcww (Ramona Kortyka, Jennifer Merlyn Scherler, Mateusz Dworczyk und Juan Blanco), Nascent, Rashaad Newsome, Caroline Sinders, Juan Pablo Garcia Sossa, Superflux, Alice Yuan Zhang 🎥 Shot by @alexanderglin & @theshedny c h a n n e l s was made in collaboration w @despina_mp3 & @pelenakekebrown Real Time Graphics @tblankensmith @touchdesigner Interactive Design @avneeshsarwate Fashion Design @weijingxiaony Fabrication & Screen Design @coralys.xx Creative Production @buffysierra Audio Description @realm.nyc Sound Description @queershoulders Video Description: Dark blue room with ghostly white projections surrounding Yo-Yo dancing in the center, wearing an insect-like facial jewelry and chrome organza wings, a metallic skirt and chest piece shimmer as she moves as if in slow motion, a turn into a fight stance, deliberate and gentle. Cut to @despina_mp3 turning knobs and hitting switches on devices. Cut to Yo-Yo bathed in pink then light blue and white, an impression of @pelenakekebrown on the screens her hands waving, mirrored by Yo-Yo. Text appears: “channels” with credits.

So this happened in April: The Aries in me loves a surprise party, but little did I know my friends @the.alephh and @vickihuang8 would team up with @xzacktoblade to bring me to a “monthly Monday night drag show” at a new club in Taipei with no Google Maps page, only to realize that everyone at the club was there just for my birthday 😅🥹😭 then I was proceeded to be given amazing drag performances from @darice.rice and @oyanakaona ✨ I was already slain but then I was dealt the final blow when they showed me a dance video friends and Zack made for me to troye sivan 😭😭😭 !!!!!!!! All I can say is thank you. First bday party in Taipei was truly unforgettable. 31 feels like dancing at the pink pony club 🤠💕🌸 These have been hard months but knowing you all are here with me dancing, laughing, living it up- that’s is truly the greatest gift of all. 💖 I swear I’ll post more and not just once in a blue moon! 🌝 Image descriptions in comments to come!

Coming to a museum bookstore or adjunct media art professor friend’s coffee table near you! Last year writer/ curator Lucy Cotter reached out to me to do an interview for her 2nd edition of her artist book- Reclaiming Artistic Research - which hit the bookshelves in late April and launching in NYC June 3rd. I recently received my copies in the mail. It was a pleasure speaking to Lucy, who offered many keen insights and a full scope picture into my artistic practice thus far. We talked about my performance collaborations with @despina_mp3 and @pelenakekebrown over the past few years, interdisciplinary practice, disabled cyborgs, making tools and films for navigating different forms of embodied knowledge. I’m grateful to be a new addition in this publication alongside Stephanie Dinkins and Richard Mosse among others whom I have looked at for years and continue to look towards for guidance and inspiration. ***The New York launch of the book will take place at e-flux in Brooklyn on June 3rd, with a panel discussion with @stephanie.dinkins and @cannupahanska and a screening by @skyhopinka . Wish I could be there, please go in my stead! 🥹 Read more at my Substack, link in bio! 🌸 ID: 1) Yo-Yo holds up the book, a small thick volume in white with black block letters: Reclaiming Artistic Research. She’s taking the selfie during golden hour in a neighborhood park in Taipei with green trees surrounding her. 2) Two books sitting on a fluffy white and grey carpet and a white flower pillow with a smiling yellow center. 3) Hands flipping through the book, landing on a center page that reads “Healing as Becoming- A Dialogue with Yo-Yo Lin.”

In honor of Coachella weekend, here’s a throwback of us VJing main stage with @stevewithav in 2016 for @joeybadass . We worked tirelessly animating clips with @klinko_plinko , piled into my Prius and drove down to Indio. Best part during the set was when we timed a Dragon Ball Z clip perfectly and threw up the Prince logo on the screen because he had just passed. I will never forget the badass crew and VJs we met FOH and the mind blowing sensation of eating Kazu Nori in the middle of a desert afterwards. And yes, we came back weekend 2 and did it all over again 🫠🤠🙏🏼 Image Description to come in the comments.