Chris Chong Chan Fui
Residency period
6 March – 28 April 2017
About
Drawing from both social and natural sciences, the research of Chris Chong (b. 1972, Malaysia) is distinctly trans-disciplinary. He works across multiple mediums from moving images, photography and installations to printmaking. His works have been exhibited internationally at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, US; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; EYE Film Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Austrian Museum of Applied Art, Vienna, Austria; and Singapore Art Museum. His films garnered critical acclaim in various festivals including Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, BFI London Film Festival, and Wavelengths in Toronto. Most recently, Chong has been an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts, in Paris, France.
Focus
During the residency Chong will develop The Economy of Birds (and Maximum Standard of Living), a research-based project that looks at how contemporary societies in Southeast Asia determine the minimum standard of living. The artist investigates the notion of “human dwelling” through a comparison between the human and the animal world by drawing a parallel between the practice of farming swiftlet birdhouses for sale and consumption and the typology of the metropolitan apartment block. In the artist’s vision, a comparative analysis of airflows, relative humidity, air temperature distribution, and light intensity that characterize the farming of edible bird’s nests and the technical requirements that make a human dwelling comfortable and efficient, is instrumental to rethink the guidelines for socially acceptable living environments as well as their implications in terms of economics and human rights.
Public programmes
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As part of The Making of an Institution, Artist-in-Residence Chris Chong Chan Fui will introduce the public to the projects he is in the process of developing and share his approach to artistic research through a selection of past works. Fuelled by a deep-seated fascination for experimental film-making, Chong’s practice often explores the threshold between illusion and reality, documentary and fiction, questioning the conventional boundaries of representation.
The talk will take place in the artist’s studio, #01-05, Block 38 Malan Road
This talk is part of the public programme of The Making of an Institution.
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Residencies OPEN offers a rare insight into the often introverted spaces of the artists’ studios. Through showcasing discussions, performances, research, and works-in-progress, Residencies OPEN profiles the diversity of contemporary art practice and the divergent ways artists conceive artwork with the studio as a constant space for experimentation and research.
This edition of Residencies OPEN takes place on the occasion of Singapore Art Book Fair 2017, and features Chris Chong Chan Fui (Malaysia), Choy Ka Fai (Singapore), Lucy Davis (Uganda/France), Hu Yun (China), Geraldine Kang (Singapore), Souliya Phoumivong (Laos), and Matthias Sohr (Germany/Switzerland).