Sponsored by Swire Properties, a solo exhibition “KNITerature” by Hong Kong based artist Movana Chen will be held at ArtisTree. This exhibition is a retrospective of the body of work the artist has created over the last decade. In order to encourage the participation of visitors, attractive programs including knitting performance will be arranged during the exhibition period.
Movana started her knitting projects in 2004 by making “magazine clothes”, a genre that plays with deconstructing and reconstructing of meanings and content by knitting shredded magazine or book papers. Her early works sculpted a multi-disciplinary fusion of media, fashion, performance, installation and sculpture that extends till recent years.
Movana’s new work “Body Container Comes to Life in Hong Kong” is a home-coming performance having travelled to Seoul, Paris and London. It is a video recording the artist in a body sculpture knitted with shredded travel maps performing on the streets of Hong Kong earlier this year. Movana aims to experience different cultures, histories, communities, lifestyles and interact with local people. From reading, shredding, knitting to travelling to various cities, Movana has developed an intimate relationship with the stories of the materials and their lives. She is eager to explore ways to “wear” one’s identity, to experiment and to perform with the “Body Container”.
”Knitting Conversations”, the hero piece of the exhibition, is a two-year collaborative work with over 150 participants. This project connects all participants and allows them to communicate across nations and cultures. Movana has invited families, friends, strangers and students around the world to involve in this project by knitting one or more books with special meanings or memories from their bookshelves. A large installation work will be assembled for exhibition after collecting all participating pieces. Movana and the participants have developed a communication web and a tactile acquaintance with the raw materials through teaching and knitting. Through this collaborative work, Movana’s art is deeply interwoven with everyday processes of participants’ daily lives.
About the Artist:
Movana Chen is a Hong Kong-based artist who studied fashion design at the London College of Fashion and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Hong Kong. Her recent projects include solo exhibitions at Chinart LaGalerie (Paris), Shin Hwa Gallery (Hong Kong) and Pekin Fine Arts (Beijing) respectively. She has also participated in various group exhibitions at CODA Museum (Apeldoorn-Netherland), Espace Louis Vuitton (Hong Kong and Singapore), MoA Museum of Art Seoul National University, Gyeonggi MoMA Korea and MoCA Shanghai Museum. Movana was one of the 30 finalists of the 2011 and 2012 Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Her art works are collected by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Louis Vuitton, Chinart LaGalerie (Paris), Galerie Helene Lamarque (Miami) and private collectors.
Image: © Movana Chen, Swire Properties
