Chiang Rai is now hosting Thailand Biennale 2023, a biannual international contemporary art exhibition initiated by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, following the positive feedback of two previous editions in Krabi (2018) and Nakhon Ratchasima (2021). It features a plethora of spectacular artworks by both local and international artists, peppered across the province.
This year’s concept is “The Open World”, aiming to broaden people’s perception of arts and connect them with contemporary global issues such as history, ethnicity, cross-border migration, and the ecological system.
Movana Chen, a Hong Kong artist, is participating in this Thailand Biennale 2023. Her works “Words of Heartbeats VI” (2020 – 2021) and “Questioning the Line” (2023) are displayed at Chiang Rai International Art Museum. Recently, we talked to her about her career and the collaboration with this art exhibition in Thailand.
“I decided to attend a three-year part-time bachelor course in fine arts without thinking of being an artist. I just wanted to get into something I really like and get away from the depressing environment at that time,” Chen recounted the beginning of her artistic journey in 2003.
The Lisbon-based Hong Kong artist was interested in arts during her high school time in Singapore. She then chose to study fashion design at the London College of Fashion. She returned to Hong Kong after graduation to work as an accountant, helping her family business over a span of seven years.
One day in 2003, her passion in arts was reignited while she was walking past Hong Kong Art Centre. She ended up studying at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Hong Kong, making her childhood dream come true.
“This place inspired my projects and made me become an artist right now.”
“Measuring Myself” was her first university project. One hundred and thirty-nine books from her bookshelf were put in a pile which was as high as her body height. This work marked her first relationship with papers and also inspired her to start a myriad of knitting projects. She put on her first solo exhibition “Play with Artbooks” at Hong Kong Art Centre in 2005, showcasing her first masterpiece woven out of shredded artbooks and magazines.
“When I moved back to Hong Kong after finishing my fashion design course, I had a lot of art books and magazines in my bookshelf. So, I shredded and transformed them into a wearable dress sculpture to represent the connection between me and those books and magazines. I also wore it to show the exploration of my identity and the relationship between me and society.”
Chen’s first-ever exhibition granted her opportunities to meet plenty of curators and collectors and to work with many galleries. She ultimately pursued her career as a full-time artist and achieved a certification in Exhibition Studies and Art Curatorship at the Hong Kong Art School.
“Travelling into Your Bookshelf” was one of her standouts. Dated from 2009, the oeuvre rendered her memories of adventurous, inspirational, surprising and energetic overseas trips. She was invited by her friends across the globe including London, Milan, Siberia, Berlin, Seoul, Philadelphia, Istanbul, Yunnan and Moscow to stay at their places. During each visit which varied from one week to three months, she met new people, went to several unknown cities and experienced her hosts’ different cultures and languages. She also read books shared by each of her hosts to learn more about their identities and memories and gathered them as materials for her artwork.
“This project is about friendship and happy moments of being connected, being together and knitting a new relationship. In this social media era, it’s easy to make friends but there’s no a real human connection. When you stay at a person’s house, you can feel the real moment of being together and truly get to know each other. ‘Travelling into Your Bookshelf’ is my ongoing lifetime project and the knit is now twenty meters long.”
“KNITerature” at the ArtisTree in Hong Kong was a very challenging project for her. She spent two years collecting finished, half-finished and unfinished self-knitted pieces created out of shredded books from one hundred and fifty participants around the world. Afterwards, she wove them together to make a fifteen-metre-long installation which was exhibited at a twenty-thousand-square-feet space. On the opening night, there was a knitting performance from over fifty knitters. Many of them met each other for the first time at the event.
“It’s the biggest one that I’ve ever done. I was not just an artist concentrating on the work on my own. When working with other people, my role was also a curator who had to manage everything in the project. But in the end, it became very meaningful to me. The knitting brought everyone together and offered a fascinating experience to the audience.”
Chen’s exhibitions not only take place in Hong Kong, they also tour across Asia, Europe and Australia. Two of her works are currently exhibited at Thailand Biennale 2023. A sculpture entitled “Words of Heartbeats VI” (2020 – 2021) is woven out of shredded maps and dictionaries that she collected from people she met while roaming around the world. Meanwhile, there is a collaboration project “Questioning the Line” (2023), a series of video documenting a performance with cinematographer Tyler Weinberger, Chen and a dancer Francisco Borges, they improvised non-verbal dialogue between human and nature in the Body Container knitted out of map.
“This is my first time having an exhibition in Thailand. The curators of Thailand Biennale saw my works at an art fair in Singapore so they invited me to join this international art exhibition. This is an advantage of exhibiting your works in different places other than Hong Kong. There’re always several curators out there seeing your works and offering you opportunities to collaborate with them.”
In her opinion, the exhibition’s theme “The Open World” is a boon to all participating artists.
“I’m interested in ‘The Open World’ concept. Not only does it link to my works which were created out of shredded maps, it also provides an open border for local and international artists to be able to connect, create conversations and exchange different cultures and ideas with one another. It encourages everyone to think differently and come up with new inspirations to create their works.”
The Open World concept also comes with the question of whether we can ever imagine the possibility of a better future again.
“I hope that our artworks will convey this key message to all exhibition spectators and encourage them to live with hope,” Chen concluded.
Thailand Biennale 2023 will run until 30 April 2024. Visit www.facebook.com/thailandbiennale for more information about the exhibition venues and participating artists or download this guidebook.