movana chen
Movana Chen is an artist based in Hong Kong and Lisbon. She has been weaving people’s stories thought KNITerature since 2004 - a genre that involves the deconstruction and reconstruction of meanings and content through books, maps, dictionaries, love letters and recently with passports as her material to weave connections between people, united and intertwined as one humanity. Her work is a fusion of media, performance, installation and sculpture. Her multidisciplinary practice is rooted in exploration of communication across cultures, from different languages to create sculptural installation that offer messages of hope and togetherness, love and trust.
Her work has been shown at CHAT 5th anniversary - Factory of Tomorrow. CHAT/MILL6 Foundation, Hong Kong (2024), The Open World, the third edition of Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai (2023-2024); Knitting Conversations, Focus Gallery, M+ Museum, Hong Kong (2024) and Body Container: Questioning the Line, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong (2024). Public collections include M+, Hong Kong; Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong; CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile), Hong Kong and QAGMA (Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Australia) Chen studied Fashion Design at the London College of Fashion, UK, and Fine Art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Hong Kong.
SOLO EXHIBITION
2025
Beyond the Surface, Encounters sector, Art Basel Hong Kong
Knitting Conversations, M+ Museum, Hong Kong
2024
Words of Heartbeats, Flowers Gallery, Hong Kong
2021
Insights sector, Art Basel Hong Kong
2020
Movana’s studio, Flowers Gallery, Hong Kong
KNITerature - silent conversation, Andong Culture & Art Center, Korea
2013
KNITerature, ArtisTree, Hong Kong
2011
Travelling into your Bookshelf - Paris, CHINART LaGalerie, Paris, France
Body Containers come to life, K11 art mall, Hong Kong
2009
Travelling into my Bookshelf, Shin Hwa Gallery, Hong Kong
2008
Two-way Communication Beijing, Pékin Fine Arts Beijing, China
Two-way Communication, Kubrick bookstore, IFC Mall, Hong Kong
2007
Play with artbooks-II, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
Wear Me out-II, The 10th Seoul Fringe Festival, HUT Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2006
Wear Me Out, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
2005
Play with artbooks, White tube, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Wave Fabric, Turkish Textile Biennial 2025, Alanya, Turkey
2024
Summer Flame at Flowers Gallery, Hong Kong
CHAT 5th Anniversary - Factory of Tomorrow at CHAT, Hong Kong
Traces and Threads, KONIG, Seoul, Korea
2023
Thailand Biennale 2023, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
Art Collaboration Kyoto 2023, Kyoto, Japan
Closer Together, RMIT galleries, Melbourne, Australia and Hong Kong
2022
31 Women Artists, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong
2020
Sight Unseen - Forking Paths, CHAT Collection exhibition, Hong Kong
50 x 50, 50th anniversary of the Flowers Gallery, London, UK
2019
Sydney Contemporary 2019, Sydney, Australia
Unfloding: Fabric of Our Life, CHAT/MILL6 Foundation, Hong Kong
2015
A Floating Identity, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
Time Capsule, Louis Vuitton, Hong Kong
The 14th Factory, Los Angeles, Califonia, USA
2015
Contemporary Istanbul 2015, Istanbul, Turkey
A Tale of Costumes, Espace Louis Vuitton Venice, Venice, Italy
The Future of Fashion is Now, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai/OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
Mitundohnepunktundkomma, Hannover, Germany
Marco Polo in Piñata Cube 37, Frankston Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia
2014
The Future of Fashion is Now, Museum Bojimans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Elephant Parade Hong Kong, Pacific Place, Hong Kong
2013
CODA Paper Art, CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
The Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hong Kong, Seoul, Korea
2012
Design Futurology, MoA Museum of Art Seoul National University, Korea
The Art of Dress, Espace Louis Vuitton, Hong Kong & Singapore
ARTHK 12, HK International Art Fair, HK Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
The Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hong Kong & Singapore
2011
SHOW OFF 2011, Solo Show Art Fair, Port des Champs Elysee’s, Paris, France
Ethical Fashion Show, Carrousel de Louvre, Paris, France
Knit Together - Collaboration with Club Monaco & Lane Crawford, IFC Mall, Hong Kong
2010
War & Peace, The International Fashion Art Biennale, Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul, Korea
ECHO, Hong Kong Sculpture Biennale, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
.be Anti Crisis, DETOUR DESIGNER idc project in Hong Kong and Brussels, Belgium
ARTHK 10, HK International Art Fair, HK Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
2009
Fashion & Art Exhibition, A Global VOGUE Celebration of Fashion, Beijing, China
Fashion Ethics “Wear Good” 2009 Cross Genre Exhibition, Gyeonggi MoMA, Korea
Mixed Media and Body Containers on display, The Opposite House, Beijing, China
2008
ARTHK 08, HK International Art Fair, HK Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Beyond the Body, Galerie Helene Lamarque, Miami, Italy
The Table, Chater Garden, Hong Kong
Shanghai MoCA Envisage II - Butterfly Dream, MoCA Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China
2007
Art to Wear, Gallery Benten 17, Hong Kong
2006
Paradigm Shift BA (Fine Art) Graduation Show 2006, Pao’s Gallery, Hong Kong
New Trend 2006, Artist Commune, Hong Kong
Crackers, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2005
Beyond the Surface, Artist Commune, Hong Kong
Crossing Path, YY9 Gallery, Hong KongMy Fair Lady, Too Art Galelry, Hong Kong
2005
Beyond the Surface, Artist Commune, Hong Kong
Crossing Path, YY9 Gallery, Hong Kong
My Fair Lady, Too Art Galelry, Hong Kong
TOURING & PERFROMANCE PROJECTS
2025
Questioning the line, at the Encounters sector, Art Basel, Hong Kong
Questioning the line, at the Turkish Textile Biennial, Turkey
2024
Body Container: Questioning the line, as part of mould the wing to match the photograph, An exhibition of Mrinalini Mukherjee, Asia Art Archival Library, Hong Kong
2023
Questioning the line, Europe
2022
18th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Norway
17th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, artist residency in Menerbes, France
2021 - ongoing
16th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Portugal
2019
Artist residency at Nock Art Foundation, Queenstown, New Zeland
Artist Residency at Artsapce, Australia
Body Container Comes to Life at Carriageworks, Sydney Contemporary, Australia
Body Containers come to life at Art Central, Flowers Gallery Booth, Hong Kong
2017
14th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Los Angeles, Califonia
2016
13th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Siberia & Moscow, Russia
2015
12th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Lijiang, China
11th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Istanbul and Cappadocia, Turkey
10th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Venice, ItalY
9th stop: Travelling into your Bookshelf, Hannover and Berlin, Germany
8th stop: Travelling into Your Bookshelf, Melbourne, Australia
2012
Body Container Comes to Life in London, UK
7th stop: Travelling into Your Bookshelf, Sicily. Italy
2011
Body Container Comes to Life in Paris, France
6th stop: Travelling into Your Bookshelf, Paris, Italy
2010
Body Containers Come to Life in Seoul, Korea
3rd stop: Travelling into Your Bookshelf, Seoul, Korea
2nd stop: Travelling into Your Bookshelf, Milan, Italy
1st stop: Travelling into Your Bookshelf, London, UK
2008
Body Containers, Challenging the Language of Fashion Culture, a collaboration with Shanghai Tang and Art Asia Pacific at ART HK08, Hong Kong
Body Container Comes to Life, at Shanghai Tang, Hong Kong
2005
Looking, touching, knitting, shredding+INTERACTING, Para Site, Hong Kong
You Make Me, OXO Tower Wharf, London
COLLECTIONS
M+ Museum, Hong Kong
Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong
CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile) Collection, CHAT/MILL6 Foundation, Hong Kong
QAGMA (Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art) Australia
The Budget Collection, Hong Kong / Switzerland
Louis Vutton Collection, France
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong
William Lim Collection, Hong Kong
MONOGRAPHS
2013
KNITerature – the art of movana chen (publisher: mccm creations, Hong Kong)
2009
Two-way Communication – the art of movana chen (publisher: kubrick, Hong Kong)