Kara Chin
The British-Singaporean artist Kara Chin fuses techno-futurism with various handcrafted and digital techniques to invent a new visual sculptural language. Working across animations, ceramics and installations, her unclassifiable mix-media aesthetic investigates the human-technology interaction within the present and future.
Drawing from domestic environments that are immersed in a technology driven present, Chin combines kinetic and robotic components, organic and synthetic elements and 3D fabrications with abstract creations of her own. Rooted in traditional Southeast Asia iconography, her sculptures and animations juxtapose familiar and outlandish motifs with diverse cultural artifacts and advanced technology to create objects that are referential, futuristic and humorous. Their anthropomorphic features and often moving elements are used to transform Chin’s sculptures into mysterious creatures through which the artist attempts to establish a parallel where living and non-living beings are inextricably linked.
Chin takes imaginative departure from trans-humanist ideologies in which humans can - and should - investigate the radical possibilities of merging with technology. Influenced by theorists, namely Sherry Turkle, Donna Haraway or Nick Bostrom, she humorously suggests ways new technologies assimilate into our domestic environments. Presenting future technocratic premonitions, the artist explores the balance between irrational fears and probable realities of a world filled with technology through fictional archaic objects and ceremonies.
Recently, Chin has been researching the relationship between technology and hauntology. She is interested in ’digital manifestations’ which she considers as “the most deceptively real 'non-real’ things” and how technology can exacerbate and facilitate being haunted by the future.
Kara Chin chronicles the ominous looming impacts of these subjects with injections of humour, delivered through bizarre narratives, chaotic configurations of objects, and unconventional materials.
Kara Chin (b. 1994, Singapore) lives and works in Newcastle, UK. She holds a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art (2018, London). She has been featured in Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2018, London), and has been awarded the Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Prize (2018, Amsterdam), Duveen Travelling Fellowship, UCL (2018, London), Alfred W Rich Prize, Slade (2017, London), Max Werner Drawing Prize, Slade (2015, London).
Chin has exhibited internationally at galleries and museums including: Tuesday to Friday (2022, Valencia), Hatch (2022, Paris), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (2022, UK) Humber Street Gallery (2022, Hull), ADM Gallery (2022, Singapore), The 8th International Triennial of Art and Ecology (2021, Maribor), Quench (2021, Margate), VITRINE (2021, Basel), BALTIC39 (2020, Newcastle), VITRINE (2020, London), VITRINE (2020, Digital), DKUK (2020, London), APT Gallery (2020, London), Pineapple Black (2020, Middlesbrough), Subsidiary Projects (2020, London), Fieldworks (2020, London), IMT Gallery (2020, 2019, 2018, London), South London Gallery (2019, London), Gallery North (2019, Newcastle), CBS Gallery (2019, Liverpool), Fold (2019 London), San Mei Gallery (2017, London), The Milton Gallery (2016, London), UCL Art Museum (2016, London), The Embassy Tea Gallery (2015, London), Science Museum (2013, London), The Pallent House Gallery (2013, London).
Chin was selected by HATCH Paris to present a solo show for ASIA NOW, the Paris Asian Art Fair, at la Monnaie de Paris (2022, Paris) and participated with Linseed Project in Art SG 2023 (2023, Singapore). Chin was selected by HATCH Paris to present a solo show for ASIA NOW, the Paris Asian Art Fair, at la Monnaie de Paris (2022, Paris) and participated with Linseed Project in Art SG 2023 (2023, Singapore). She recently received her first solo exhibition in China 'Splendour of the Sun' at Galerie du Monde in Hong Kong. He has inaugurated her first institutional solo presentation as part of Goldsmiths CCA's Episodes programme in July (2023, UK).
Related Artworks
The Park is Gone, 80 x 128 x 3.5 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, Courtesy of the artist
The Raptors, 2022, 16.5 x 13 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, Courtesy of the artist
Fire 1, 2022, 16 x 22 x 2 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, timber, Courtesy of the artist
Fire 2, 2022, 16 x 22 x 2 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, timber, Courtesy of the artist
Fire 3, 2022, 16 x 22 x 2 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, timber, Courtesy of the artist
EWOT, 2022, 21.5 x 14 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, Courtesy of the artist
PEMF, 2022, 23 x 16 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, Courtesy of the artist
Ishiguri's telenoid and an unrelated tomb, 2022, 14.5 x 19 x 4 cm, Glazed ceramic, grout, pigment, timber, Courtesy of the artist
Tsukumogami Tribute, 2019, Glazed ceramic, grout, 60 x 70 x 4 cm, Courtesy of the artist
Followers, 2020, NFT/Virtual Sculpture, displayed as 1080p 16_9, Courtesy of the artist, 4/4
Before Altar, 2020, NFT/Virtual Sculpture, displayed as 1080p 16_9, Courtesy of the artist, 3/3
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