陳靄媛
MEL CHAN
(Hong Kong/the Netherlands)
IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD: FINDING HOPE IN THE TIME OF PRECARITY
The central focus of her practice revolves around finding hope amidst the impending apocalypse, while simultaneously tracing the intricate relations between our dystopian situation and the legacies of Colonialism and (Neo)Colonialism.
Encompassing participatory performances, hypnotherapy, storytelling, painting, and video, my practices not only guide people to live with the crisis, but they also serve as an acknowledgement of historical causation and an investigation of remedies and hopes in times of precarity.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in a former colony (Hong Kong) of the British Empire, grew up witnessing the paradigm shift (from neoliberalism to totalitarianism to ecological crisis) and lives as a diaspora in western Europe (the Netherlands), “The End of the World” for Mel Chan is much more than a metaphor -- it is a painful fact that we need to embrace, a “trouble” that we need to stay with (as Donna Haraway advocates).
Based in the Netherlands, she has exhibited/performed in various art spaces and festivals in the Netherlands (1646, Quartair, The Grey Space in the Middle, Pictura, Page Not Found, Kunstinstituut Melly, Brutus, V2_, Roodkaapje, Museum of Young Art, De Balie, Vrij Paleis, Rademakers Gallery, Willem Twee Kunstruimte, ACPA Conference, Kaapstad Art In Public Space Festival, among others).
She graduated from Master Artistic Research in The Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK) in 2019, and has a double major degree in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from the University of Hong Kong.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, Museum of Young Art (MOYA), Oosterhout
EVER ENDING, Platform Post, Nijmegen
ESCALEREN, Pictura, Dordrecht
TRANSITIONS: NAVIGATING HUMANITY IN A SHIFTING REALITY, The New Current, Brutus, Rotterdam
ART ROTTERDAM, Rademakers Gallery, Rotterdam
SHE KNOWS, Rademakers Gallery, Weesp
2023
PAN AMSTERDAM, Rademakers Gallery, Amsterdam
WHEN I HAVE FEARS THAT I MAY CEASE TO BE, Willem Twee Kunstruimte, Den Bosch (Solo Exhibition)
SPRINGBOARD ART FAIR, Werkspoorkathedraal, Utrecht
A PUBLIC AFFAIR, Young Collectors Circle/Dead Darlings, Amsterdam.
THIS IS THE AGE OF DESTRUCTION, Galerie Franzis Engels, Amsterdam.
ASMR Performance for SOFT DESTRUCTIONS by artist Anna Witt, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam.
2022
HUMAN KIND. KIND HUMAN. Electron, Breda.
KAAPSTAD: ART IN PUBLIC SPACE FESTIVAL, Tilburg.
DEAD DARLINGS - ISSUE², Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam.
THIS ART FAIR, De Kromhouthal, Amsterdam.
MY GOALS ARE BIGGER THAN YOURS (Collaboration with David Ghelli
Santuliana), Cas-co, Leuven, Belgium.
2021
WHITE CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND PRINCE EDWARD|白菊與太子, SinArts Gallery, Den Haag, the Netherlands (SOLO EXHIBITION).
BIG ART, Hembrugterrein, Zaanstad, the Netherlands.
2020
OPTIMISM OVER DESPAIR, Contemporary Art Weekend, Den Haag
IN TIMES OF CONFINEMENT, Sinarts Gallery, Den Haag, the Netherlands.
2019
NASTY WOMEN, #team/Femke, De Balie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ACPA CONFERENCE: IS THIS THING ON? THE PUBLIC DIMENSIONS OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
LOCATING ArtScience #2: Children of the Space (A Forest), Today's Art Festival, The Grey Space In The Middle, Den Haag, The Netherlands
SPECTER, V2_, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
BOOK LAUNCH of If A Tree Falls in a Forest, Page Not Found, Den Haag, The Netherlands
BETTER AS A CHORUS, MA Artistic Research, KABK, Den Haag, The Netherlands
ABANDONED REALITIES, Evermore, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I WAS MOSTLY DELIGHTED, BUT YES, ALSO A LITTLE BIT AFRAID, Quartair, Den Haag, The Netherlands
2018
ON-GOING CONVERSATIONS #5, 1646, Den Haag, The Netherlands
THE REVERSE OB-SERVANT, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland
RISE, Quartair, The Hague, The Netherlands
RANDOM COLLECTIVE, Stroom, The Hague, The Netherlands
2017
THE ARTIST WILL BE DRUNK, Jimz Pub/KABK MAR, The Hague, The Netherlands
EDUCATION
MFA (Distinction), Master of Artistic Research,
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ART, THE HAGUE
Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy and Comparative Literature (Double Major) THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG