Fiona Tan (born 1966 in

Pekanbaru Pekanbaru is the capital of Indonesian province of Riau, and a major economic center on the eastern part of Sumatra, Sumatra Island. Its name is derived from the Malay language, Malay words for 'new market' ('pekan' is market and 'baru' is new). ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

) is a

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

primarily known for her photography, film and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

installations. With her own complex cultural background, Tan's work is known for its skillful craftsmanship and emotional intensity, which often explores the themes of identity, memory, and history."Introducing"
FionaTan.nl, Retrieved 13 August 2014. Tan currently lives and works in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

."Fiona Tan CV"
, Frith Street Gallery, Retrieved 30 October 2018.

Early life and education

Fiona Tan was born in 1966 in

, to an Indonesian Chinese father and Australian mother.Guy Nichols, Matthew
"Fiona Tan"
, ''Art in America'', Retrieved 12 August 2014. Tan spent her early childhood in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 1984 she moved to Europe, where she has resided since. Between 1988 and 1992 Tan studied at

Gerrit Rietveld Academie The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The academy was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design. History In 1924, the I ...

. Between 1996-1997 she also studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst.

Artistic practice

In 2019, Tan completed a photography/film project title
L'archive des ombres/Shadow Archive
during her residency at the

Mundaneum The Mundaneum was an institution which aimed to gather together all the world's knowledge and classify it according to a system called the Universal Decimal Classification. It was developed at the turn of the 20th century by Belgian lawyers Paul ...

, a repository created by Belgian visionary

Paul Otlet Paul Marie Ghislain Otlet (; ; 23 August 1868 – 10 December 1944) was a Belgian author, entrepreneur, lawyer and peace activist; predicting the arrival of the internet before World War II, he is among those considered to be the father of infor ...

with the goal of cataloging all human knowledge. An exhibition of the same name was staged at th
Musée des Arts Contemporains
,

Grand-Hornu Grand-Hornu is an old industrial coal mining complex and company town (''cité ouvrière'') in Hornu (Boussu), near Mons, in Belgium. It was built by Henri De Gorge between 1810 and 1830. It is a unique example of functional town-planning. Tod ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 2019. In 2009, she represented The Netherlands at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

with the solo presentation ''Disorient''."Disorient"
Artist's website, Retrieved 18 November 2018. She has also participated in

Documenta 11 Documenta11 was the eleventh edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 8 June and 15 September 2002 in Kassel, Germany. The artistic director was Okwui Enwezor.Documenta11_Plattform5: Ausstellung. Kata ...

, the Yokohama Triennale, the

Berlin Biennale The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. T ...

São Paulo Biennial SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

and also at the

Istanbul Biennial The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Format Istanbul Bien ...

, the Sydney Biennial and Asian Pacific Triennial. Her work is represented in many international public and private collections including the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

, London,

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Schaulager, Basel, the New Museum, New York, and the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris. She has been guest lecturer at many art institutions including professor at the postgraduate program

De Ateliers De Ateliers (formerly Ateliers '63) is an independent art school in located in Amsterdam. It was founded in Haarlem in 1963, among others by Ger Lataster, Mari Andriessen, Nic Jonk, Theo Mulder and Wessel Couzijn. This "group of established arti ...

, Amsterdam (2006–2014) and

Kunsthochschule Kassel Kunsthochschule Kassel (German; "Kassel College of Art") is a college of fine arts in Kassel, Germany. Founded in 1777, it is a semi-autonomous department of the University of Kassel . Notable people * Daniel Stieglitz * Peter Angermann * Si ...

(2014–15). In 2003 Tan created a poster, ''Lift'', for Transport for London. In 2016 she directed her debut film, '' History's Future''.Her second feature film ''Ascent'' premiered at the 2016

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

. During this year she was also the artist in residence at the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Exhibitions

Over the past twenty years her work has gained increasing international recognition. Tan has had solo exhibitions in museums and galleries worldwide including the New Museum, New York,

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

, Sackler Galleries, Washington DC,

Aargauer Kunsthaus Aargauer Kunsthaus (English: ''Aargauer Art House'') a Swiss art museum founded in 1959, and located in Aarau. The museum collection includes Swiss art from the 18th-century to the present day; and ''Naturama'', a natural history collection. A ...

, Switzerland, Akademie der Künsten, Berlin, Kunstverein Hamburg, Konsthal Lund, Landesgalerie Linz, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montréal, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

Select solo exhibitions

*''Inside Out'', Montevideo/Time Based Arts, Amsterdam (1995) *2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg (1997) *''Roll I and II'', De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art, Tilburg, Netherlands (1999) *''Elsewhere is a Negative Mirror'', De Begane Grond, Utrecht, Netherlands (1999) *''Cradle'', Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (1999) *''Smoke Screen'', De Balie, Amsterdam (1999) *''Stimuli'',

Witte de With Witte Corneliszoon de With (28 March 1599 – 8 November 1658) was a Dutch naval officer. He is noted for planning and participating in a number of naval battles during the Eighty Years War and the First Anglo-Dutch war. Early life and chil ...

, Rotterdam (1999) *

, Venice (2001) *''Rain'', Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich (2001) *

Documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

11, Kassel, Germany (2002) *''Link'',

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Amsterdam (2003) *

Istanbul Biennale The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Format Istanbul Bien ...

, Istanbul (2003) *''Time Zones,''

, London (2004) *''Saint Sebastian'', Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montréal, Canada (2005) *''Saint Sebastian'', Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (2005) *''Countenance'',

Modern Art Oxford Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1965 in Oxford, England. From 1965 to 2002, it was called The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. The gallery presents exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It has a national and internationa ...

, Oxford, England, (2005) *''Short Voyages'', Frith Street Gallery, London (2006) *''80 Tage'', ''Vox Populi'', ''Countenance'';

Pinakothek der Moderne The Pinakothek der Moderne (, '' Pinakothek of the Modern'') is a modern art museum, situated in central Munich's ''Kunstareal''. Locals sometimes refer to it as the ''Dritte'' ("third") ''Pinakothek'' after the Old and New. It is one of the world' ...

, Munich (2007) *''A Lapse of Memory'',

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

, London (2007) *''A Lapse of Memory'', Frith Street Gallery, London (2007) *''Countenance'',

Williams College Museum of Art The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the campus of Williams College, and is close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Ar ...

, Williamstown, MA (2008) *''Provenance'',

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, Amsterdam (2008) *''Disorient'', Dutch Pavilion,

53rd Venice Biennale The 53rd Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held in 2009. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Daniel Birnbaum curated its central exhibition, "Making Worlds". Awards ...

(2009) *''Saint Sebastian'',

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. Th ...

, Washington, DC (2009) *''Rise and Fall'',

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...

, Washington, DC (2010) *''Vox Populi London,'' Frith Street Gallery, London (2010) *''Rise and Fall'',

, Aarau, Switzerland *''Rise and Fall'',

, Vancouver, Canada (2010) *''Vox Populi Switzerland'', Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris (2011) *''Rise and Fall'', Wako Works of Art, Tokyo (2011) *''Point of Departure'', Centro Andaluz de Arte Contempraeneo, Sevilla, Spain (2012) *''Disorient'', Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2012) *''Vox Populi London'',

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established in ...

, London (2012) *''Ellipsis'', 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2013) *''Inventory'', MAXXI, Rome (2013) *''Inventory'',

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, Philadelphia (2013-2014) *''Terminology'', Metropolitan Museum for Photography, Tokyo (2014) *''Terminology'', National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2014) *''Nellie,'' Wako Works of Art, Tokyo (2014) *''Options & Futures'', Rabo Kunstzone, Utrecht, Netherlands (2014) *''Depot'',

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety ...

, Gateshead, UK (2015) *''Ghost Dwellings'', Frith Street Gallery Soho Square, London (2015) *''Geography of Time'', Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (2015) *''Inventory'', Frith Street Gallery, London (2015) *''Geography of Time'', Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (2015-2016) *''Geography of Time'',

Mudam The Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art (french: Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean), abbreviated to Mudam, is a museum of modern art in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The museum stands on the site of the old Fort Thüngen, on the so ...

, Luxembourg (2016) *''Ascent'', Izu Photo Museum, Nagaizumi, Japan (2016) *''Geografie of Time'',

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it i ...

, Frankfurt, Germany (2016-2017) *''Disorient'',

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Spai ...

, Abando, Spain (2016-2017) *''Nellie'', IMA, Brisbane, Australia (2017) *''Geography of Time'',

Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aroun ...

, Tel Aviv, Israel (2017) *''Ascent'', De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands (2017) *''Time and Memory'', Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Spain (2018) *''Elsewhere'', Frith Street Gallery, London (2018-2019) *''Shadow Archive'', MAC’s, Grand Hornu, Belgium (2019) *''Ascent'',

Samstag Museum The Samstag Museum of Art, also known as the Samstag Museum, was opened in October 2007 as the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, in the Hawke Building of the CityWest campus of the University of South Australia (UniSA). The museum is named in ...

, Adelaide, Australia (2019) *''Ideas of Utopia'', Borch Editions Butik, Copenhagen (2019) *''Disorient'', Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2019-2020) *''Goraiko'',

Sprengel Museum Sprengel Museum is a museum of modern art in Hanover, Lower Saxony, holding one of the most significant collections of modern art in Germany. It is located in a building situated adjacent to the Masch Lake (german: Maschsee) approximately south ...

, Hannover, Germany (2019-2020) *''Archive / Ruins'', Peter Freeman, Inc., New York (2020) *''Geography of time'', Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam (2022)

Select group exhibitions

*''Cine y Casi Cone'',

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museo may refer to: * Museo, 2018 Mexican drama heist film *Museo (Naples Metro) Museo is a station on line 1 of the Naples Metro. It was opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. O ...

Museum, Madrid (2007) *''Global Multitude'', Rotunde, Luxemburg (2007) *''L’oeil ecranou la nouvelle image'',

Casino Luxembourg The Casino Luxembourg is a forum for contemporary art which was adapted and renovated in 1995 to fit its new role of housing temporary exhibitions of Luxembourg art. It opened in 1882 as the Casino Bourgeois, and was a centre for cultural and soc ...

(2007) *Museum of Contemporary Art of Bucharest, Romania (2007) *Contour, Museum Prinsenhof, Delf (2007) *Biennial of Moving Images, Geneva (2007) *Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, Photographer’s Gallery; Berlin (2007) *Neue Börse, Frankfurt (2007) *Breeze, cur. Marja Bloem,

Gallery Nelson Freeman Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

, Paris (2008) *The Tropics Martin- Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2008) *''Be(com)ing Dutch'',

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wanted ...

, Eidenhoven (2008) *''Rethink Kakotopia'', Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center (2009) *''Self and Other'', National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka (2009) *Architecture Biennale, Venice (2010) *São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo (2010) *Ich zweifellos,

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is an art museum in central Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, opened 1994. It presents modern and contemporary art and is financed by the ''Kunststiftung Volkswagen.'' It takes up aspects of the industrial city of Wolfsburg, whic ...

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...

(2010) *''Moving Portraits'', De La Warr Pavilion, UK (2011) *''Expanded Cinema'', MMOMA, Moscow (2011) *''Architectural Environments for Tomorrow'', MOT Tokyo (2011) *Le Pont, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseille *''Beyond Imagination'',

(2012) *Arte torna arte,

Galleria dell'Accademia The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence", is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture ''David (Michelangelo), David''. It also has other sculptures by Mic ...

, Florence (2012) *''Autobiography'', Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris (2012) *''Status'',

Fotomuseum Winterthur Fotomuseum Winterthur is a museum of photography in Winterthur, Switzerland. History The museum was founded in 1993 and is dedicated to photography as art form and document, and as a representation of reality. Fotomuseum Winterthur is an art g ...

, Switzerland (2012) *Inseldasein, DAAD Galerie, Berlin (2013) *''Suspended Histories'',

Museum van Loon Museum Van Loon is a museum located in a canalside house alongside the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The museum is named after the family Van Loon that lived in the house from the 19th century. History The canal house where the muse ...

, Amsterdam (2013) *''Go-Betweens'',

Mori Art Museum The is a contemporary art museum founded by the real estate developer Minoru Mori (1934–2012) in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills complex both of which he built in Tokyo, Japan. The exterior architect of the museum's gall ...

, Tokyo, Japan (2014) *''Paradise Lost'', CCA, Singapore (2014) *''FUTURE PRESENT'', Schaulager, Laurenz Foundation, Basel, Switzerland (2015) *''NO MAN'S LAND'', Rubell Family Collection, Miami, United States (2015) *''Ecce Homo'', The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2016)

Select awards

Fiona Tan received several international prizes and awards, including Getty Artist-in-Residence Fellowship, Los Angeles (2016);

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

(nominee) (2007); ICP Infinity Award for Art, New York (2004); Artes Mundi Prize, Cardiff (nominee) (2003); and J.C. van Lanschot Prize for sculpture, Belgium/The Netherlands (1998).

Residencies

Tan participated in established international residencies, including

IASPIS IASPIS, ''The International Artists Studio Program in Stockholm'', is a cultural exchange program financed by the Swedish Government. IASPIS facilitates a creative dialogue between visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as paintin ...

grant and residency, Stockholm (2003) and DAAD scholarship and residency, Berlin (2001).