Chiarina Chen: Curating Connections Between Art and Technology
Issue I Distortion April 11 2024
Chiarina Chen
Writer: Jiani Wang, Joven Delay
Editor: Jiani Wang
Image Credit: Artist
Videographer: Jiani Wang
Chiarina Chen, an independent curator and writer based in New York, approaches her practice from a diasporic and posthuman lens. Her curatorial endeavors, predominantly featuring international artists and themes, "fuse art and emotional technology," spanning mediums from photography to sound installations, showcasing a diverse array of mixed media.
Chiarina Chen: Curating Connections Between Art and Technology
Chiarina Chen, an independent curator and writer based in New York, approaches her practice from a diasporic and posthuman lens. Her curatorial endeavors, predominantly featuring international artists and themes, "fuse art and emotional technology," spanning mediums from photography to sound installations, showcasing a diverse array of mixed media. Overseeing six exhibitions and events, Chen seamlessly transitioned from curating a multimedia gallery exhibition in Chinatown, exploring the expansive possibilities of AI art, to orchestrating a vibrant outdoor spectacle merging light, art, and sound in front of a century-old building in Long Island. Among her recent endeavors was a clandestine show held in a concealed theater space in midtown Manhattan, presenting a captivating amalgamation of artworks from various creators.
Chen's penchant for showcasing artwork in unconventional and shadowy settings has become her trademark, a predilection that has roots in her earliest days. Throughout her undergraduate tenure at Syracuse University, where she delved into psychology with a specialization in criminal psychology, she began to appreciate the intricacies of collective consciousness, a knowledge that now shapes her curatorial style and draws her to contrasting elements. Chen remains deeply engaged in the realm of theoretical research alongside her curating practice; presently, she holds the roles of co-chair and founder of the Posthuman Research Group at NYU. Additionally, she maintains an active involvement in the local art scene as an annual reviewer and curator at the New York Chapter of the American Society of Media Photography, ensuring her ongoing connection to current trends and developments.
Posthumanism significantly influences Chen’s approach to curating. Emerging from the realms of science fiction and contemporary art, it encapsulates a philosophical perspective envisioning a world where humans relinquish their central role, transcending traditional human limitations. This evolving definition serves as a consistent thread woven throughout much of Chen’s artistic endeavors, guiding and shaping her creative output.
Utilizing the white-walled space of :iidrr gallery to its advantage, Chen accentuated these minimalist elements to highlight the Bureau of Cloud Management, a fictional office that collects, stores, and manages human-prompted AI-generated clouds, a central element of the show. Upon first entering, visitors will be met by the front desk, where they can interact with the screen there to describe a cloud they have seen and watch as AI generates their memory. This exhibition became a perfect breeding ground to encourage others to interact with the kind of thinking Chen has championed since the beginning of her career, a look into “our entanglements with technologies'' and an invitation to “look around, instead of looking ahead.”
On a crisp yet sun-drenched winter afternoon, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Chen to delve further into her journey from her hometown in China to the vibrant art scene of New York.
I'm curious about your daily routine. What is a typical day like as a curator?
Chen: I don't have a typical routine. Every curator is very different, as there are various types of artists, and the same goes for curators. Some curators work for institutions, and some practice independently. As for me, when I first entered this industry, there was an imagination in my head that a curator should always be working with the artist at the 'frontline' of art practice, and they should be in an experimental state as they collaborate. The European pioneers who were active in the sixties and seventies have profoundly influenced my understanding of a curator's work and responsibility. I always joke about myself as a 'curatorial savage', constantly in a state of flux and change.
:iidrr
What are some memorable moments you’ve had curating in the past year?
Chen: I did a lot last year. It was probably the busiest year for me since the COVID-19 pandemic. I did six projects, each occupying around one or two months. They are all very different, and I was constantly in dialogue with the artworks involved, and my schedule was profoundly shaped by them. I could write all day for one day, do nothing for another, or stay in an artist's studio until midnight.
The boundary between 'artist' and 'curator' is getting narrower and narrower, how has that affected your own practice?
Chen: That’s a good question. A curator's role involves a lot of creativity and originality. I agree that a curator's contribution to an art piece should not be forgotten, be it intelligent thoughts, emotions, or labor. We are the glue of the team, connecting every part to create a whole piece. What I enjoy the most in working with artists is the multi-party collaboration process in which we respect each other's ideas and endeavors. I don't quite agree with the idea that one party must be the center of power, whether it is the curator or artist. We are more like long-term partners. And it is always a creative idea that drives us to stay hand in hand.
:iidrr
How and when did you begin curating? What brought you to where you are now?
Chen: I chose criminal psychology and art history as double majors in my undergraduate education at Syracuse University. The academic training in psychology offered me a thinking structure mainly based on science and rationality. However, within my heart, I wasn't completely satisfied with using universal parameters to explain all the subjects and happenings. Instead, I always felt an urge to escape from this logical way of interpreting and measuring things. And the art history courses allowed me to think beyond logic and language. It also inspired me to think in a dimension out of the subjective-objective binary.
The double-major studying process provided me with a cross-disciplinary mindset I adopted during college and have been using until now. I am still concerned with many social issues, and many of my works use art as a medium or device to address or examine these issues.
I took a semester abroad in Florence when I was in Syracuse. When I was there, what caught my interest was the Black Death period, right before the Renaissance. I was able to see how social change and transformation impact the collective psychological state of an entire generation, as well as the artworks created during that period. That learning experience shaped my understanding of art. A kind of aesthetic or a phenomenon in the art world must be the output of a series of constant interactions between the industry and the broader society in a specific historical time.
Why criminal psychology? What was the appeal?
Chen: I need to go back to my childhood to answer this question. I was born and raised in a happy family. Many family members from my mom's side are musicians, so I have many memories of music and performance stage. But weirdly, these delightful, cheerful memories gave me the earliest form of rebellion. I started to feel bored with things that seemed so bright and saturated with positive energy. Instead, I am intuitively drawn to the darker side of things, those shaded in shadows, which are complicated and challenging to be perceived and digested. It contains lots of energy, and I keep asking why those are abandoned, suppressed, and marginalized. I am always interested in the marginalized, and I am always in doubt if there's a clear boundary between moral and immoral, lawful and illegitimate.
:iidrr
Of all the projects you have worked on, which one struck you as the most unconventional and impressive?
Chen: It is still the project 'Magic Back to Town' on which I collaborated with cyborg artist Moon Ribas in 2019. We created a show in a 19th-century theater in East Village. Moon Ribas had just had her sensor implantation operation when we prepared the show. After the implantation, she could sense the amplitude of the earth's vibrations through her body. We also collected human audio stories about their feelings of disconnection and thoughts of magic from worldwide. We invited musicians to transpose these narratives into a live-improvised sonic landscape in companion with Moon's performance.
When creating this show, the human-cyborg relationship that the piece's concept embodies was less known and understandable by many people than today. Working with Moon Ribas on a daily basis was also an unforgettable experience for me. I was able to observe and feel the intensity of her energy. And this person also happened to be your partner. It was amazing.
We also received feedback from the audience. Some people told me they had received a sensational and spiritual connection with the performance, the earth, and nature. I felt very grateful for hearing this.
The theater where the show took place is also a rare treasure. I went there every day to prepare for the show for an entire week. On the first day, the theater manager told me I needed to make sure there was a ghost light on the stage before leaving. It is a ritual in response to some myths about theaters that originated in Europe and have existed for centuries. When I followed his words and did it with my own hands, there was a magical feeling raised in my body.
Do you have a dream venue you’d like to do a show in?
Chen: Maybe a ruin or a debris. Whenever I pass through a desolate construction site in the city, I ask myself if it is possible to do something there. The hybrid of artificial and natural, the material transformation in this place over time facilitated with air, water, and heat. These are very fascinating to me.
:iidrr
ou've lived in New York for several years. How do you feel about the city?
Chen: For me, the city has a distinct tradition of self-renewal. Whenever I return here from somewhere else, my relationship with the city will have a new chapter with different people and places, just like when card-shuffling in a poker game. New York is also the city with the most dense and intensive energy. You'd constantly be questioning whether I'd done enough, crazily absorbing and outputting things simultaneously. You might feel the need to leave and enclose yourself from the outside for a while, but after some time, you will feel the urge to return again.
Find Chiarina Chen on Instagram @chiarina.chen or on her website chiarinachen.com.