It’s Only the end of the world: Finding Hope in the Time of Precarity

Born in a former colony (Hong Kong) of the British Empire, grew up witnessing the paradigm shift (from neoliberalism to totalitarianism to ecological crisis) and lives as a diaspora in western Europe (the Netherlands), “The End of the World” for Mel Chan is much more than a metaphor — it is a painful fact that we need to embrace, a “trouble” that we need to stay with (as Donna Haraway advocates).

Her artistic research traces the intricate relations between our dystopian situation and the legacies of Colonialism and (Neo)Colonialism. Encompassing participatory performances, hypnotherapy, storytelling, painting and video, her practices not only guide people to live with the crisis, they are also acknowledgement of historical causation, as well as investigation of remedies and hopes in time of precarity.

Based in the Netherlands, she has exhibited/performed in various art spaces in Den Haag (1646, Quartair, The Grey Space in the Middle, Page Not Found), Rotterdam (Kunstinstituut Melly, V2_, Roodkaapje), Den Bosch (Willem Twee Kunstruimte), Amsterdam (De Balie, Vrij Paleis, Galerie Franzis Engels), Leiden (ACPA Conference), Tilburg (Kaapstad Art In Public Space Festival), and Scotland (Hospitalfield), among others. She graduated from Master Artistic Research in The Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK) in 2019, and has a double major degree in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from the University of Hong Kong.