Blog | Angela YT Chan

2022

Lunar Photosynthesis 月球光合作用 Illustration Published in Journey Planet #68 Special Issue on 'Chinese SF and Space'

My illustration Lunar Photosynthesis is now published in Journey Planet #68 Special Issue on 'Chinese SF and Space' edited by raceegina Kanyu Wang, Arthur Liu, and Yen Ooi, in the first of two issues dealing with Chinese science fiction.

December 30, 2022

illustration writing / publication science fiction
Food Futures: Speculative Stories Workshop for BA Games with LSFRC at WInchester School of Art

I and three other co-directors of the London Science Fiction Research Community led a workshop around food themed game narratives. We each began with short presentations to introduce various ideas relating to food – I spoke about cultural heritage and climate change – before the students worked in teams to prototype games.

December 8, 2022

workshop teaching science fiction
Storytelling Interconnectedness: Digital Storymapping Workshop for Signal Film and Media's TIDAL in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria

I held a digital mapping workshop for TIDAL's Digital Artist Development Lab that combined climate storytelling with lived experiences of change, memories of places and future visioning. Storytelling Interconnectedness is about situating climate stories in the real and imaginary: what does it mean to upload speculative fictions as mapped data points? How can we geolocate the uncertainties we feel about our changing environments over time? (December 3, 2022 → December 4, 2022)

December 3, 2022

workshop digital media / tech Storytelling Interconnectedness
Dr Uma Breakdown In-Conversation with Angela YT Chan and Dr Tom Dillon for Wysing Arts Centre

Celebrating Uma Breakdown’s gallery exhibition Earth A.D. Uma we spoke together with Dr Tom Dillon on systems of (self)archiving, collapse and repair and queer counter-culture science fiction. I added how in my work, I approach self-archiving current climate experiences as a way to resist future data gaps in our inherently political climate histories.

November 16, 2022

talk science fiction
Weathervane: Student Climate Arts and Activism Talk and Workshop with Love Ssega for King's Culture, KCL

King’s Culture Climate Collective supports students’ arts, creativity and storytelling as powerful forces for transforming our climate emergency, and invited Love Ssega and myself to introduce to students of any programme of study to learn more about the intersection of arts and climate justice. We shared our examples of our work and interests before workshopping in smaller groups to ignite students' own ideas for creative change.

November 10, 2022

workshop university guest artist project
ESEA Birmingham Roundtable for ESEA Artists' Futures

'The ESEA Artists’ Futures research project arose from artists’ intervention and whistleblowing in 2020 about the systemic failures in the visual arts, in particular the failures of the ESEA visual arts landscape.' I arranged and facilitated a closed roundtable with a selected network of East and Southeast Asian art sector workers, from institutional to freelancer, who work in the Midlands, England, to bring insights to reflect what the needs are for ESEA arts workers in the region.

November 10, 2022

workshop community organising
Visiting Artist Lecturer: BFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College

In their studio spaces, I gave 1-1 tutor sessions with students on the BFA Fine Art course across the undergraduate year groups. I specifically offered reflections on their works in-progress with critical research approaches, more environmentally and socially 'sustainable' practices, and suggested readings for theory and artworks. (November 4, 2022 → March 6, 2023)

November 4, 2022

teaching
What is Next? Art + Social Justice Panel Talk at London College of Communication, UAL

I spoke together with Maggie Matić, Marie Smith, Becky Warnock, Heather Agyepong and the panel chair Professor Mark Sealy (Autograph ABP) on the role of art as a form of critical communication and engagement for climate and social justice, pointing out the distractions, challenges and hope.

November 4, 2022

talk
Imagining new climate narratives through speculative fiction Workshop at Bow Arts, London

Using speculative fiction and sci-fi as a springboard, this workshop was about how we can use fiction as a vehicle to imagine, agitate, and move towards new climate and ecological narratives that speak to our own experiences. I delivered a workshop for Bow Arts as part of their Visions in the Nunnery, #FirstThursdays Late Opening.

November 3, 2022

workshop science fiction
Eelyn Lee's 'Hong Kong Future Diaspora' Exibition at Bloc Projects, Sheffield

The exhibition shows Eelyn Lee's work-in-progress of her project 'Hong Kong Future Diaspora', which invites me and other collaborator through a 'process of devising a series of contemporary mythical characters Centring embodiment, conversation and improvisation, the group has created worlds and characters that forge a speculative ‘Hong Kong-ness.’' While I did not make it to perform during the live performance/ritual to bless the opening of the exhibition, choreographer Jan-Ming Lee took my place for my character The Navigator, and with our rehearsed movements. (October 20, 2022 → November 22, 2022)

October 20, 2022

exhibited in collaboration
Climate Justice Riders for Creatives Workshop for the Kaleidoscope Network

This collective 'climate justice rider' writing exercise saw participants develop a short document that freelancers can send to employers to encourage better practice during contracting. These included asking for transparent commitments, making available the necessary resources and budget to ensure activities are climate and socially responsible. The document will work in a similar way to an Access Rider.

October 15, 2022

workshop
Loss and Found Sound Memorial Exhibition with Dissonant Futures Collective at Common Space, Bradford

The Loss and Found Sound Memorial, created by Dissonant Futures, in collaboration with sculpture designer Kevin Logan and sound designers Camilo Tirado and Andréas Saenz De Sicilia, was on tour throughout the UK. As a friend to the project and for its exhibition in Bradford, I joined Dissonant Futures Collective for the installation and launch, speaking to visitors and the local radio about its intentions and themes.

October 12, 2022

critical friend workshop
Visiting Lecturer: Climate Colonialism - Power, Knowledge and Justice for MFA Art Writing at Goldsmiths College, London

I taught a module strand to introduce and broaden students' understandings of the colonial histories of climate change, and how to build their own interdisciplinary critical engagements and arts projects within their existing and explorative practices. (October 10, 2022 → October 16, 2022)

October 10, 2022

teaching workshop
Arts Practices and the Climate Justice Workshop for AcrossRCA at RCA, London

For AcrossRCA, a new approach to creative learning in the face of global challenges across the Royal College of Art programmes, I gave a presentation on my arts practice, before joining a panel with Tori Tsui and Matt Toombs.

October 5, 2022

talk
Climate Change Histories for The Curatorial Thing with SixtyEight Art Institute's Audacious Landscapes in Copenhagen

I delivered a presentation with project examples of how I approach my research and art practices through climate change histories for the Fifth Edition of The Curatorial Thing and by the invitation of Heidi Hart. I also spoke on a panel with other researchers - Ariana Kalliga and Beatriz Colomina (keynote) - who presented alongside me in our session titled 'Regenerative Architectures in Climate Art History Perspective'. (October 1, 2022 → October 8, 2022)

October 1, 2022

talk conference / symposium
Huntingdonshire Futures: Collective Imagination Talk and Workshop with The Place Bureau, Residents and Huntingdonshire District Council in St. Ives

For the second Huntingdonshire Futures workshop, I gave a talk with workshop prompts to about 80 participants from throughout the borough, asking them to think about the future of Huntingdonshire through speculative methods and finding the agency of authorship. Alongside other guest speakers, we collectively covered four key topics: People, Place, Economy, Environment, where I was invited by The Place Bureau to engage participants on the environmental futures they are thinking about.

September 27, 2022

talk science fiction policy
Inaugural WORLDING programme with Co-Creation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab

Together with socially-engaged artist Hwa Young Jung and Ruth McCullough (director, Abandon Normal Devices), we made up team WILD NATURES for the first WORLDING. The 2-week intensive programme aimed to develop potentials for co-creative processes with real-time 3D with Hwa Young's project – a paper-based game made with young people excluded from mainstream education in Northwest England, that explores on their terms the intersection of criminal and environmental justice. (September 27, 2022 → October 4, 2022)

September 27, 2022

workshop conference / symposium science fiction collaboration
Digital Decarbonisation Consensus & Conjectures Workshop with Anne Pasek for Sunlight Doesn't Need a Pipeline

I joined 23 other arts practitioners, led by [Anna Pasek](https://www.annepasek.com/) to bring together a collective 'Decarbonisation and the Arts Consensus Statement.' The collaborative gathering and workshopping spoke insightfully to working in this space: working and experimenting with digital media technologies while remaining aligned to opposing the social and climate injustices we operate in; navigating capacities individually, collectively and around institutions, and importantly, being creatively inventive to the climate issues beyond only the metrics of 'sustainability.'

September 13, 2022

workshop participation collaboration
Chinese Science Fiction + Art Talk for the 2nd ESEA Heritage Month

As part of the programming for ESEA Heritage Month, I spoke with my peers in the science and speculative fiction space, Sinjin Li, Yen Ooi and Mia Ma Chen about the Chinese SF and art.

September 6, 2022

talk science fiction
Young Climate Activists: Zine Making Workshop

I gave a collaging and zine making workshop for young people to 'explore the use of art and photography to address questions of climate justice and the health of the planet, inspired by Autograph's current exhibition Mónica de Miranda: The Island.

August 16, 2022

workshop youth group

Lunar Photosynthesis 月球光合作用 Illustration Published in Journey Planet #68 Special Issue on 'Chinese SF and Space'

Food Futures: Speculative Stories Workshop for BA Games with LSFRC at WInchester School of Art

Storytelling Interconnectedness: Digital Storymapping Workshop for Signal Film and Media's TIDAL in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria

Dr Uma Breakdown In-Conversation with Angela YT Chan and Dr Tom Dillon for Wysing Arts Centre

Weathervane: Student Climate Arts and Activism Talk and Workshop with Love Ssega for King's Culture, KCL

ESEA Birmingham Roundtable for ESEA Artists' Futures

Visiting Artist Lecturer: BFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College

What is Next? Art + Social Justice Panel Talk at London College of Communication, UAL

Imagining new climate narratives through speculative fiction Workshop at Bow Arts, London

Eelyn Lee's 'Hong Kong Future Diaspora' Exibition at Bloc Projects, Sheffield

Climate Justice Riders for Creatives Workshop for the Kaleidoscope Network

Loss and Found Sound Memorial Exhibition with Dissonant Futures Collective at Common Space, Bradford

Visiting Lecturer: Climate Colonialism - Power, Knowledge and Justice for MFA Art Writing at Goldsmiths College, London

Arts Practices and the Climate Justice Workshop for AcrossRCA at RCA, London

Climate Change Histories for The Curatorial Thing with SixtyEight Art Institute's Audacious Landscapes in Copenhagen

Huntingdonshire Futures: Collective Imagination Talk and Workshop with The Place Bureau, Residents and Huntingdonshire District Council in St. Ives

Inaugural WORLDING programme with Co-Creation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab

Digital Decarbonisation Consensus & Conjectures Workshop with Anne Pasek for Sunlight Doesn't Need a Pipeline

Chinese Science Fiction + Art Talk for the 2nd ESEA Heritage Month

Young Climate Activists: Zine Making Workshop