MLitt Curatorial Practice School of Fine Art
Kan Chen
Kan Chen is an artist-curator currently pursuing a Master’s in Curatorial Practice at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA). Originally from Shanghai, China, she holds a Bachelor’s degree and is also continuing an ongoing Master’s in Fine Art in Printmaking from Shanghai University. Kan’s ongoing projects include Coffee Crit, a series of artist collectives held in local cafes since 2023, and As An Alternative Paradise. Additionally, she plays a key role in founding and running re:PRESENT, a student society at GSA focused on producing talk events.
Kan undertook a placement at the GSA Exhibition from February to June, where she assisted with the year-round public programme of exhibitions and events, including the Sandra George project for Glasgow International.
Kan’s practice is centered around the term “untranslation”, exploring care and language justice through the act of translation in different formats.
An Archive of (Un)translation
An Archive of (Un)translation is a series of translation creative writing workshops that took place at a local café, Ushi’s Coffee Corner, on June 8 and June 15, with the third workshop held on campus at the MFA Crit Space on Friday, July 5. Participants came from diverse backgrounds and brought a wide range of languages to the workshops, including Chinese (simplified and traditional), Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Urdu, Tagalog, Japanese, Thai, Turkish and English – ten different languages in all.
As An Alternative Paradise is a sustainable project that explores “(un)translation” and the act of translation in contemporary curatorial practice through various formats.
From Letter to Letter
From Letter to Letter is a one-hour public-facing artist’s conversation between two artists Jane Skeer and Sherry Xiong Xiaoyu, hosted by Kan Chen, which is part of the As An Alternative Paradise project curated by Kan Chen. The first letter comes from the alphabet and the second from correspondence and belongs to the practice of two artists.
The talk will take place from 1 pm to 2 pm on Friday 5 July in the MFA Crit Space, 2nd Floor, Stow Building. Following the talk, participants will engage into a translation creative writing workshop, titled An Archive of (Un)translation.
(Un)Translation As An Alternative Paradise
(Un)Translation As An Alternative Paradise was a small retrospective exhibition presenting a year-long collaboration between Kan Chen and three artists from her Glasgow-based collective Coffee Crit: Nana Miyagi, Jane Skeer and Sherry Xiaoyu Xiong, as the final part of the As An Alternative Paradise project. The exhibition was accompanied by a bilingual brochure, “An Artist’s Archive of (Un)Translation“.
Photographer Bo Yiwen documented the opening event and the installation view. Performer Peilin Shi and musician Ruggero Bianchin presented In the Pouring Rain at the opening event.
