Approved: 16.08.2006

Suki Chan

Artist, Film-maker, Teacher

Approved: 16.08.2006

Chan's passion is to change perception and build empathy for other people’s realities.

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Artist Statement

Chan's passion is to change perception and build empathy for other people’s realities.

Chan uses moving image, installation, photography and sound to explore our subjective perception of reality. Her mesmerising film works draws the viewer into a cinematic 'elsewhere' to investigate memory, belief and knowledge systems.

Chan's research-based practice sits at the intersection of art and science. Her work features dialogues with diverse communities from people living with dementia, blind and partially sighted people, commuters, meditators, to psychologists and neuroscientists. Chan seeks out narratives that explore alternative ways of looking at the world and stories that challenge and destabilise our understanding of perception and reality.

Her research partners include the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (King’s College, London), Swarm Awareness Project (The University of Sheffield) and Centre for the Study of the Senses (University of London).

Her multi-platform project, CONSCIOUS, will launch this spring at The Bluecoat (Liverpool) and Danielle Arnaud Gallery (London). CONSCIOUS brings together the diverse, subjective perspectives of scientists and ordinary people, whose stories unwrap layers of thinking and preconceptions about individual and collective consciousness. CONSCIOUS is funded by Arts Council of England, with commissions from Somerset Art Works, Science Gallery Rotterdam, The Bluecoat and supported by Film London.

Chan has filmed in diverse locations and sites including contested sacred sites in the Middle East; Senate House Library in London; Hagia Sofia in Istanbul; and rammed earth roundhouses in Yunnan province associated with her Hakka heritage in China.

Chan’s work has been shown nationally and internationally including the Museum of London, David Roberts Art Foundation, London; Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art, Manchester; Liverpool Biennale; Art Basel Hong Kong, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, China; Frost Science Museum, Miami, US; Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; and Dr. Bhau Daji Museum, Mumbai, India. Chan’s work is included in public and private collections in the UK and USA, including the Museum of London, David Roberts Art Foundation, The Ingram Collection, TINTYPE and The Celebrity Art Collection on The Solstice ship.

In 2021 Chan was selected for the BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew, a year long development programme delivered by BAFTA in partnership with BFI NETWORK.

In 2020 Chan was awarded Film London's FLAMIN Productions, a major moving image artist award committed to nurturing talent and supporting innovative artists in their professional growth, supported by Arts Council England. She was also granted a bursary from Screenskills to develop new skills in VR.

In 2017 Chan was selected for New Approaches, a development programme run by Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network (FLAMIN).

Chan studied at Goldsmiths College and Chelsea School of Arts. She is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art.

CV & Education

Education

2008 MA Fine Art, Chelsea School of Art, London, UK.
1996-1999 BA (Hons), Goldsmiths' College, London, UK.

Solo Exhibitions

2017 Lucida, Centre For Contemporary Chinese Art (CFCCA), Manchester, UK.
Lucida, Asia House, London, UK.
2016 Lucida, Tintype, London, UK.
2015 A Light Shines in Darkness, FVU touring project: Still Point in St Catherine's Chapel, Norwich Cathedral & St Werburgh’s Church, Derby, UK.
2012 A Hundred Seas Rising, Quays Arts, Isle of Wight, UK.
A Hundred Seas Rising, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK.
Still Point, The Lightbox, Woking, UK.
Still Point, Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury, UK.
2011 Sleep Walk Sleep Talk, The Museum of London, London, UK.
Undiscovered Landscapes, The Wapping Project, London, UK.
Sleep Walk Sleep Talk, Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan.
2010 Utopia on the Horizon, Tintype gallery, London, UK.
Sleep Walk Sleep Talk, NAE, Nottingham, UK.
2009 Sleep Walk Sleep Talk, A-Foundation, London, UK.
Sleep Walk Sleep Talk, 198 Gallery, London, UK.
2008 Interval II, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, UK.
2007 Story of Rice 4, El Tanque, Canary Islands, Spain.
2006 Story of Rice 3, Leicester New Walk Museum, UK.
2003 The Story of Rice, Upriver Loft, Kunming, China.
2003-2001 Shadow Songs, Bluecoats Art Centre, Liverpool Biennale, UK.
2001 Midsummer's Daydream, Plastique Kinetic Worms, Singapore.
 

Group Exhibitions & Screenings

2018 London Nights, Museum of London, UK.
Presence: A Window into Chinese Contemporary Chinese Art, St George's Hall, Liverpool UK
2017 Misty Clouds Scattered Colours, Zuecca Projects, Venice, Italy.
SEEING, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, USA
SEEING, Frost Science Museum, Miami, USA.
2016 SEEING, Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.
Videotage booth, Art Basel Hong Kong, China.
The Ingram Collection: Not all Contemporary Art is Rubbish!, The Lightbox, Woking, UK.
2015 A Personal Passion, Hestercombe Gallery, Taunton.
A Light Shines in Darkness, FVU touring project, Church of St Edmund, Rochdale & Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland, UK.
DRIFTING DÉRIVE, Asia House, London, UK.
2014 Essex Road, Tintype, London.
Video Art, Dr. Bhau Daji Museum, Mumbai, India.
Show Motion, UAL Showroom, London, UK.
Bridge, Museum of London, London, UK.
2013 Cooperation Territory, 16thLINE Gallery, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Dalston House Screenings: There and Here, The Barbican, London, UK.
(b)orders, orders, (dis)orders, dna Projects, Sydney, Australia.
Still Point, Deepam Cinema, Seychelles.
Still Point, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK.
2012 (b)orders, orders, (dis)orders, Raf Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
Lightness, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Ireland
The City in the City, Art on the Underground, London, UK.
Curator’s Egg, Altera Pars, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London, UK.
2011 English Education, Dan Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Shape of Things, Ferrate Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
China Through the Looking Glass, Victoria & Albert Museum Friday Late, London, UK.
2010 The Ingram Collection, Lightbox, Woking, UK.
El Ritmo De la Luz, TEA, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Minutiae, Roscommon Arts Centre, Ireland.
2009 Eniminminimos II, Esplanade, Singapore.
Pathways, Profeti Disarmati Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK.
2008 Futuremap 08, David Roberts Art Foundation Fitzrovia, London, UK.
13th International Arts and Digital Cultures Festival, Gran Canaria, Spain.
2007 Sequence and Repetition 3, Bridge Art Fair, London, UK.
Sequence and Repetition, Jerwood Space, London, UK.
Reversing Horizons, Shanghai Museum of Modern Art, UK.
House Project, Kiliney Hill, Dublin, Ireland.

Curated Exhibitions

2010
For the Sake of the Image, Jerwood Space, London, UK.
2006 Imagine, OCC, Manchester, UK.
 

Public Art Commissions

2009 Imagining Raindrops III, Ridgewood School, Burnley, UK.
2008 Imagining Raindrops II, LIME, UK.
2007 Imagining Raindrops, MPA, UK.
2006 Imagine, OCC, Manchester, UK.
2005 Story of Rice 2, CAS, London, UK.
 

Artist Residencies

2014 Aspex Visual Arts, Portsmouth, UK.
2004-2006 OCC, Manchester, UK.
2004 King's School, Gutersloh, Germany.
2003 Artist residency/research project, Upriver Loft, Kunming, China.
2003-2001 Turnpike Gallery, Manchester, UK.
2002 Artist residency, PKW, Singapore.

Awards/Grants

2015 Small Arts Award, Wellcome Trust.
Grant for the Arts award, Arts Council of England.
2008 Development award, Film and Video Umbrella.
2007 Grant for the Arts award, Arts Council of England.
LAFVA production award, Film London.
2003  Artist Links Award, British Council & Arts Council.
Cultural Diversity Award, Arts Council & AGMA.
2002 Individual Artists Award, Arts Council.
Cultural Diversity Award, Arts Council & AGMA.
2001 Individual Artists Award, Arts Council.

Public & Private Collections

Museum of London, UK.
David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK.
EA Byrne Contemporary Art Collection, London, UK.
Esplanade, Singapore.
Ingram Collection, London, UK.
University of the Arts Art Collection, UK.
University of Salford Art Collection, UK.