movana chen
Movana Chen is a Hong Kong-based artist, who lives and works in both Hong Kong and Lisbon. She studied fashion design at the London College of Fashion, UK; Fine Art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Hong Kong.
Since 2004 she has been weaving people's stories through KNITerature - a genre that involves the deconstruction and reconstruction of meanings and content through knitting books, maps and dictionaries. Chen’s multidisciplinary practice is rooted in the exploration of communication across cultures, often shredding and repurposing dictionaries, maps and books from different languages to create sculptural installations that represent new forms of language.
Movana Chen’ works have been collected by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, Hong Kong.), Cathay Pacific, Louis Vuitton, The Burger Collection, Hong Kong / Switzerland; William Lim Collection and private collectors globally. Movana Chen will exhibit in the Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai in December 2023 and will exhibit her “knitting conversations” at M+ Museum, Hong Kong in February 2024.
solo exhibition
2020 Movana’s studio, Flowers Gallery / Hong Kong
2020 KNITerature - silent conversation, Andong Culture & Art Center / Korea
2013 KNITerature, ArtisTree / Hong Kong
2011 Travelling into your Bookshelf - Paris, CHINART / France
2011 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 / China
2008 Two-way Communication, Kubrick bookstore, IFC Mall / Hong Kong
2007 Play with artbooks-II, Fringe Club / Hong Kong
2007 Wear Me out-II, The 10th Seoul Fringe Festival, HUT Gallery / Korea
2006 Wear Me Out, Fringe Club / Hong Kong
2005 Play with artbooks, White tube, Hong Kong Arts Centre / Hong Kong
selected group exhibitions
2023 Thailand Biennale 2023 / Chiang Rai
2023 Small is Beautiful at Flowers Gallery / London
2023 Art Collaboration Kyoto / Kyoto
2023 Closer Together at RMIT galleries / Melbourne
2022 31 Women Artists, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery / Hong Kong
2020 Sight Unseen - Forking Paths, CHAT Collection exhibition / Hong Kong
2020 50 x 50, exhibited at the 50th anniversary of the Flowers Gallery / London
2019 Sydney Contemporary 2019 / Sydney
2019 Unfloding: Fabric of Our Life, CHAT / Hong Kong
2017 Time Capsule, Louis Vuitton / Hong Kong
2017 The 14th Factory, Los Angeles / Califonia
2015 A Tale of Costumes, Espace Louis Vuitton Venice / Venice
2015 Contemporary Istanbul 2015 / Istanbul
2010 War & Peace, Seoul Arts Centre / Seoul
performance projects
2023 Questioning the line / Europe
2019 Body Container comes to life at carriageworks, Sydney Contemporary 2019 / Australia
2019 Body Containers come to life at Art Central, Flowers Gallery Booth / Hong Kong
2012 Body Container Comes to Life in London / UK
2011 Body Container Comes to Life in Paris / France
2010 Body Containers Come to Life in Seoul / Korea
2008 Body Containers Come to Life at ARTHK08 / Hong Kong
artist-in-residence / touring project
2022 - 18th Travelling into your Bookshelf -Norway
2022 - 17th Travelling into your Bookshelf -Menerbes, Artist residency / France
2019 Giverny, the queenstown residency, nock art foundation / New Zealand
2019 Sydney Contemporary: artist in residence at Artsapce, Sydney / Australia
2021 - ongoing 16th stop / Travelling into your Bookshelf – Portugal
2017 14th stop / Travelling into your Bookshelf – Los Angeles
2016 13th stop / Travelling into your Bookshelf – Siberia & Moscow
2015 12th stop Travelling into your Bookshelf – Lijiang
2015 11th stop / Travelling into your Bookshelf – Istanbul and Cappadocia
2015 10th stop / Travelling into your Bookshelf – Venice
2015 9th stop / Travelling into your Bookshelf – Hannover and Berlin
2015 8th stop / Travelling into Your Bookshelf - Melbourne
2012 7th stop / Travelling into Your Bookshelf - Sicily
charity exhibition
2017 - Carnival, Amnesty International Hong Kong, Kong Art Space
2015 - Christie’s Asia+ / First Open sale in Hong Kong
2014 - Elephant Parade Hong Kong, Asia Elephant Foundation, Hong Kong
2013 - The 2012-13 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hong Kong & Seoul
2012 - The 2011 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, Hong Kong & Singapore
book publications
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)