Tiffany Chung

SPRING

Tiffany Chung, water dreamscape scroll—the gangster named Jacky,
the sleepers and the exodus, 2017-2018

Tiffany Chung is internationally noted for her exquisite cartographic drawings and installations that examine conflict, migration, displacement, urban progress and transformation in relation to history and cultural memory. Conducting intensive studies on the impacts of geographical shifts and imposed political borders on different groups of human populations, Chung’s work excavates layers of history, re-writes chronicles of places, and creates interventions into the spatial and political narratives produced through statecraft. Her ongoing comparative study of forced migration through the current Syrian humanitarian crisis and the post-1975 Vietnamese mass exodus unpacks asylum policies and refugee experiences, providing insights into the constant shifts in international asylum policy making.

Selected museum exhibitions and biennials include: Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter, MoMA, New York, USA; IMPERMANENCIA Mutable Art in a Materialist Society, XIII Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador; 10th Taipei Biennial, Taiwan; Still (The) Barbarians, EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial; Illumination, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; Sonsbeek, Museum Arnhem, Netherlands; All The World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Italy; Our Land/Alien Territory, Museum & Exhibition Center ‘Manege’, Moscow, Russia; My Voice Would Reach You, Rice University & Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Residual: Disrupted Choreographies, Carré d’Art – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nîmes, France; Sharjah Biennial, UAE; California Pacific Triennial, Newport Beach, USA; 7th Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane, Australia; and Six Lines of Flight, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA.

Public Programs at Tai Kwun
for Dismantling the Scaffold

A two-part program History and the Way Forward has been conceived by artist Tiffany Chung in connection to her new site-specific installation of the exhibition focusing on the Vietnamese refugees’ experience in Hong Kong and beyond between 1975 and 2000. The constellation of new and existing works alongside archival research unveils the impact of asylum policies imposed on the Vietnamese refugees, as well as the extent and scope of the refugee crisis in Hong Kong and the world during that period.

The two respective discussions will examine the work of Hong Kong’s NGOs such as “Art in Camp” and a group of human rights lawyers who assisted the Vietnamese asylum seekers in the past in gaining refugee status in Hong Kong. As part of Chung’s ongoing, comparative studies on global forced migration, these endeavors in Hong Kong will be examined alongside the work of several Danish organizations in their efforts of helping the current asylum seekers in Denmark. Chung’s interest in the Danish humanitarian tradition departs from the fact that 3,743 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea were rescued and brought to Hong Kong by a Danish container ship, Clara Maersk, in 1975, as well as her recent collaboration and experience working with art initiatives such as Center for Art on Migration Politics and others in Denmark. By bringing the Danish and Hong Kong cases into dialogue, the public program aims to generate a productive space of exchange and understanding for these continuous efforts to improve the treatment and policy on subjects of migration and asylum at present in Hong Kong, Denmark and beyond.

/
PANEL I: Art in Times of Crisis
June 15, 2018, 19:00-20:30

Speakers:

Tiffany Chung (Exhibiting artist in Dismantling the Scaffold, United States/Vietnam)
Frederikke Hansen (Co-director of Center for Art on Migration Politics; Kuratorisk Aktion, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Dr. Samson Wong (Lecturer at the Hong Kong Design Institute; member of Art for All, Hong Kong)

Moderator: Christina Li

What role can art play in contributing to the discussions on socio-political issues such as the refugee crises and to empower those who are subject to forced displacement? This panel will highlight examples of art initiatives that have emerged during the Vietnamese Refugee Crisis in Hong Kong (1975 - 2000) and the current European Refugee Crisis in Denmark. Dr. Samson Wong will present his research and insights on the art project “Art in Camp” that was spearheaded by Evelyna Liang between 1988-89 in response to the plight of Vietnamese refugees in detention camps. Shedding light on the present situation in Denmark, Frederikke Hansen will talk about Center for Art on Migration Politics (CAMP)’s work dedicated to stimulating discussion on themes such as displacement, migration and asylum since the center’s initiation in 2015. Joined by Tiffany Chung, who will share her experiences working with the refugee children from a Red Cross School in Denmark, the panel will examine the approaches, challenges as well as ethical questions at stake when working with and producing work for refugee and asylum-seeker communities. (Watch video documentation here.)

/
PANEL II: Refugee Experience and Asylum Policy – The Way Forward
June 17, 2018, 10:00-12:00

Speakers:

Gladys Li (Constitutional Law/Human Rights, Senior Counsel, Hong Kong Bar; Founding member, Hong Kong Civic Party)
Mark Daly (Administrative/Immigration/Refugee/Human Rights/International Public Law, Daly & Associates, Hong Kong)
Tone Olaf Nielsen (Co-founder, Trampoline House; Co-director, CAMP/Center for Art on Migration Politics; Kuratorisk Aktion, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Carol Tong Thi Xuan (Former refugee, Vietnam; Senior Paralegal, Daly & Asosciates, Hong Kong.)
Que Nguyen (Former Vietnamese refugee, Hong Kong)
Son Hoang (Former Chinese-Vietnamese refugee, Hong Kong)

Moderator: Tiffany Chung

This panel discussion will unpack various asylum policies that emerged during the Vietnamese refugee era in Hong Kong (1975-2000) and testify to the ways in which these policies were imposed on the Vietnamese refugees and asylum seekers in the then-British colony. It will discuss how a team of human rights lawyers led by the late Pam Baker fought for the asylum seekers’ rights, especially their legal representation, which crucially enabled them to gain refugee status prior to the closure of the last Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong in 2000. The panel also presents the work of Trampoline House, a refugee justice community center in Copenhagen that offers counseling, education and community to current asylum seekers and refugees in Denmark. The speakers will sum up the most challenging policies and pressing issues for the refugees then and now, discuss lessons learned and suggest changes in policy making, as well as actions that individuals and organizations can take to help improve their situation. (Watch video documentation here.)

[For public programs with other artists, please click here.]