During the residency period, Mel Chan will transform MOYA into her studio/workstation, where she will be engaged in her research and paintings. Visitors will have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the artistic production in progress, offering a behind-the-scenes experience.
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).
Her artistic research traces the intricate relations between our dystopian situation and the legacies of Colonialism and (Neo)Colonialism. Encompassing participatory performances, hypnotherapy, storytelling, painting and video, her practices not only guide people to live with the crisis, they are also acknowledgement of historical causation, as well as investigation of remedies and hopes in time of precarity.