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Movana Chen
Artist: Movana Chen
Place: Art space HUT (Seoul)
Website: http://www.movanachen.com/
Contact : info@movanachen.com
+852.6109.0701
We had an interview with Movana Chen, an artist from Hong Kong who
participated in the 10th Seoul Fringe Festival, which started on the 17th of
August.
Movana is an artist who presents “wearable art”, examining the relationship
between clothes, media and the consumption of both disposable commodities.
Audiences in the exhibition space can touch and even try on clothes made
of magazines. The artist gained her fashion design experience at The London
College of Fashion and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts (RMIT) at
Hong Kong Art School in 2005. Her work is a multi-disciplinary fusion of
media transformation, fashion, performance and sculpture. Movana currently
works as a curator at YY9 Gallery (Hong Kong), where she promotes young
local artists.
EB: Please briefly explain your project, “Wear Me”.
MC: I’ve been making “Magazine clothes” since 2004. I studied at fashion school in
London where I used my interest in fashion magazines to develop my work.
Currently, I collect magazines on street and use them as cloth materials.
Clothes made of mass-media represent modern people, who are enclosed by
the mass-media. I once did a performance wearing these clothes, and what
I found most interesting is that at first people showed interest in my
performance but after about 10 minutes; they became indifferent, as they
had already grown used to what I was doing.
EB: Your work process seems quite interesting. How do you select the
magazines? Do they need to satisfy a certain condition?
MC: Not really. I collect magazines here and there, and unfold and finely cut
them up. Then, I make a bobbin to be ready for knitting. That’s the process.
EB: Papers are easily torn. How do you resolve this problem? Some of your
clothes actually seem to be made of coated papers.
MC: When you collect magazines, there are many coated papers. I sometimes
use these.To hang on the outside wall of Art Space Hut, I made laminates
manually. In this special case, you don’t need to worry about strong weather,
because the magazines wouldn’t be easily damaged. But you don’t usually
do this for an interior as it costs a lot.
EB: Is this your first time visiting Korea? What is your impression of Seoul?
MC: Yes, this is the first time. I have some colleagues who spent time in Korea
and most say it was boring. But for my case, it’s a little bit different. I stayed
near Hongik University so I could meet many young and energetic artists.
It’s a great experience for me and my work.
EB: Your work at HUT shows the beauty of harmony. Are you satisfied with
the installation for this show?
MC: Yes, I am. I saw several images of the space for this show when I was in
Hong Kong. At that time, I liked the pictures of the HUT space because of
the rough interior. I’m fairly satisfied with the installation this time. When
you go to Hong Kong, it’s difficult to find such natural spaces like HUT.
EB: Have you heard of the residency programs in Korea? If you have a
chance, would you like to join one?
MC: I don’t know much about Korean residencies. I visited Ssamzie space several
days ago. It seems like a good place. But it would be hard to join a residency
program since I currently work as a curator in Hong Kong.
EB: Please explain a little bit about the gallery, where you currently work.
MC: YY9 Gallery is simply a commercial gallery. In Hong Kong, you can find that
most galleries stand close together within a small area. There are approximately
60 commercial galleries and 4 or 5 of them present young artists’ works. YY9
Gallery is among those galleries. We are usually looking for young artists and
exhibit their work. The majority of the sold products in our gallery are used for
interior design in hotels or cafes. The pieces sold to collectors make up a
very small proportion; only 10% of the total. There are several independent
art spaces such as Hong Kong Fringe and parasite and we exchange information
about young artists with them.
EB: We want to hear more about stories of young artists in Hong Kong.
What is the current work propensity?
MC: The first of July this year is the 10th anniversary of China conceding the
territory of Hong Kong. Therefore, there are many celebratory events this year.
The majority of fine artists made their work based on this 10 year history.
In addition, Hong Kong artists held a big exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary
in Shanghai’s gallery.
EB: I personally like your performance, ‘moving body container’. Does the
exhibition for this time also come include a performance?
MC: There is no special performance this time. But we had a sort of workshop that
you can make clothes using magazines by yourself. I was planning on having a
performance during the opening event for Seoul Fringe. I may be able to have a
surprise performance before I leave Korea tomorrow.
EB: Are there any websites through which we can access information about
the art scene in Hong Kong?
MC: Yes. ‘Asia Art Archive’ website would be a good example. They cover not only
Hong Kong’s contemporary art but also entire scene of Asian art.
EB: We would like to know about your work schedule. Do you have plans
for anything new?
MC: I’m currently working on more magazine-based work. For example, think of
a foreigner wearing clothes made of Korean magazines. Hence, I’ll continue
on this ‘wearable’ work for a while, and plan to present my works in other countries
like Japan.
-Editor Park Na-hye | 
