Hoo Fan Chon
Dublin Core
Title
Hoo Fan Chon
Description
22 February - 22 May 2022
Artist-in-Residence at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme (Finland)
Born into a fisherman’s family that regularly hosted and attended seafood banquets, fish has always been a mainstay in Fan Chon’s diet. In recent years, fish has also become a recurring motif in his practice. Foreign invasive species, such as the Tilapia fish, mythical creatures, such as the half-dragon half-fish Shachihoko ubiquitous in Japanese culture, and the dolphins on George Town’s municipal coat of arms regularly appear in his work. Fan Chon understands food consumption as a constant negotiation between nature and culture inflected by social norms. During the residency, he intends to research the plating aesthetic and the obsession with freshness, exemplified by aquarium displays of live fish, typical of Chinese culture. Specifically, he will explore banquet dining practices of diasporic Chinese communities in Finland and Finland’s own fish culture, consumptions habits, and industry. At the same time, he will also explore the host country with an open mind looking for accidental discoveries of cultural artefacts and practices that might appear foreign and yet familiar.
Artist-in-Residence at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme (Finland)
Born into a fisherman’s family that regularly hosted and attended seafood banquets, fish has always been a mainstay in Fan Chon’s diet. In recent years, fish has also become a recurring motif in his practice. Foreign invasive species, such as the Tilapia fish, mythical creatures, such as the half-dragon half-fish Shachihoko ubiquitous in Japanese culture, and the dolphins on George Town’s municipal coat of arms regularly appear in his work. Fan Chon understands food consumption as a constant negotiation between nature and culture inflected by social norms. During the residency, he intends to research the plating aesthetic and the obsession with freshness, exemplified by aquarium displays of live fish, typical of Chinese culture. Specifically, he will explore banquet dining practices of diasporic Chinese communities in Finland and Finland’s own fish culture, consumptions habits, and industry. At the same time, he will also explore the host country with an open mind looking for accidental discoveries of cultural artefacts and practices that might appear foreign and yet familiar.
Date
22 February - 22 May 2022
Contributor
Residency Item Type Metadata
Short Description
Through this residency, Fan Chon will exercise his ideas and share his projects with audiences with different cultural backgrounds and material sensibilities to germinate productive questions and trajectories. He plans to visit local cultural institutions and grassroots initiatives. With the help of curators and other practitioners, he would also like to take the opportunity to reflect on and consolidate his past projects into a larger cohesive practice, and to find a balance between object-based artmaking and research-led projects.
Location
Offsite
Collaboration
Yes
Commissioned Work
Yes
Files
Collection
Citation
“Hoo Fan Chon,” NTU CCA Singapore Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ntuccasingapore.omeka.net/items/show/4432.
Item Relations
| This Item | References | Item: Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP) |
| Item: Hoo Fan Chon | References | This Item |