Running Artfully Across Disciplines

On the criticality for researchers to work across silos, drawing on my research since 2009 around running as a creative discourse. Invitation by artist Dr Deborah Padfield. This was for a class with Medical students from St George's and Medical Humanities students from Birkbeck, and was part of a fascinating module on the leg! Co-taught with Professor Annie Bartlett. Following in the footsteps of Rousseau’s seminal 1776 book Reveries of the Solitary Walker, the performance-lecture is structured around 10 runs, and draws on a keynote lecture at Paris School of Culture and Arts for the RUN! RUN! RUN! Biennale 2018 and a book chapter for the Mobilities Handbook (Edward Elgar) ed by Monika Büscher (Centre for Mobility Research, Lancaster Uni), Malene Freudendal-Pedersen (Roskilde Uni/Denmark) and Sven Kesselring (Nuertingen-Geislingen University)

Exceptional talent, the state of fun & islands of after death: one artist/curator/woman's tale of how art & mobilities collide through 100 slides

This performance-lecture was a keynote lecture for the Art & Mobilities Network Inaugural Symposium at the Peter Scott Gallery, which Tan co-curated. It tells the story of how art and mobilities collides for Tan as an artist, curator and woman. She re-presents a version of it in the form of an online story through 100 slides which she publishes on ISUU. Tan was a 2017-2018 Centre for Mobilities Research CEMORE Visiting Fellow, Lancaster University. CEMORE initiated the new mobilities paradigm in the social sciences, arts, humanities and sciences. It was the first such centre (founded in 2003 by John Urry and Mimi Sheller) and continues to be at the heart of this burgeoning global field. Mobilities research develops a deeper and broader understanding of contemporary challenges through social science as a transdisciplinary endeavour. It encompasses the analysis of the global, national and local movements of people, objects, capital, information and material things combining together to engender the economic and social patterning of life. Previous Fellows include Dr Dr Bradley L. Garrett, well-known for his urban explorations During her Fellowship, Tan worked closely with the Director of Mobilities Lab Dr Jen Southern, as well as Professor Emma Rose and Dr Linda O Keefe of the Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts, and successfully co-curated the Art & Mobilities Network Inaugural Symposium. The study and practice of Art & Mobilities has been gaining momentum in the past decade. This includes pioneering solo and collaborative work led by Jen, a key player in the field. The Art & Mobilities network consolidates, celebrates and develops this work. On 3rd July, nearly thirty artists, writers, curators and researchers gathered at the Peter Scott Gallery. Apart from UK-based colleagues like Nikki Pugh, Elia Ntaousani, Bruce Bennett and Bron Szerszynski, we were joined via Skype by Mimi Sheller (USA), Owen Chapman (Canada), Kaya Barry (Australia) and Sven Kesselring (Germany). UK participants brought with them objects, images or texts for a pop-up exhibition. We wrote our big ideas on a ‘manifesto wall’ and considered the histories of mobilities in art practice through a timeline running across the Gallery. Jen gave a keynote packed full of information and provocations covering creative research methods, the aesthetics of mobility and so on. We closed the colloquium with a role and ‘next step’ that each of us intends to perform to get the group going. Tan also collated an ‘instant journal’, an experimental platform which documents some of our activities and thoughts, and which we will continue to edit and develop. In the longer term, we will seek funding to build this network internationally and to facilitate collaborations and activities such as conferences, exhibitions and publications

Too Much/ Not Enough 'Neurodiversity' in UK Art & Academia?

It’s been 1 year since Kai's #MagicCarpet project was launched at the Art Workers Guild (04/2018), when we unpacked the term ‘neurodiverse art’. Since then, there's been a mini-explosion of activities tagged ‘neurodiversity’ in UK arts & academia, but, or hence, the term remains contested. Have we got too much 'Neurodiversity' in UK Art & Academia -- or is there not enough critical, genuine engagement? This is the edited transcript of Kai's speech. The speech was part of the event Too Much or Not Enough: Neurodiversity and Cultural Production. This was part of the Birkbeck Arts Week, on 21 May 2019 at Birkbeck, University of London. The event consisted of a film screening and discussion with Kai, curator Alessandra Cianetti, and literary researcher Dr Sophie Jones. We explored the aesthetics of neurodiversity and the place of invisible disabilities in the cultural industries. The evening began with a overview by myself on the contested term ‘neurodiversity’, followed by the premiere of the film, Brisk/Risks, which explores risk-taking within and beyond ADHD. This was followed by further responses and provocations by myself, Cianetti and Jones and a discussion. Associated with the event was a 5-day exhibition of my #MagicCarpet in Room 106, which was also artist Vanessa Bell’s studio. Bell, sister of Virginia Woolf, worked in tapestries too. The exhibition and event were part of Birkbeck Arts Week 2019. There was also a podcast of the evening. This event is funded by a grant from the Birkbeck Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund. Gallery & feedback: http://wesatonamat.weebly.com/2019-may-birkbeck.htm

On Art, Neurodivesity & Giant Octopussies: Reflections on art-science commission #MagicCarpet

I created, designed, edited and wrote this 55-page booklet, On Art, Neurodivesity & Giant Octopussies: Reflections on art-science commission #MagicCarpet. It documents my reflections of the award-winning art-psychiatry commission We Sat On a Mat and Had A Chat And Made Maps! #MagicCarpet. It is my invitation for feedback, and participation for #MagicCarpet’s next adventures, and will be launched 30/1/2020 as part of the exhibition launch of a solo exhibition at the Manchester Craft and Design Centre (30/1/2020 - 04/04/2020). I initiated, led, curated and created #MagicCarpet as the first artist-in-residence of Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre (SGDP), King’s College London. My mentor was Professor of Psychiatry Philip Asherson. #MagicCarpet was commissioned and supported by Unlimited, celebrating the work of disabled artists, with funding from Arts Council England. The project was also supported by Cultural Programming and SGDP, both of King's College London. The 18-month programme generated a creative space for people from diverse and divergent backgrounds to gather and chat about mind wandering, constructs of ‘normality’, and neurodiversity – all problematic, unstable terms and, thus, fascinating. Created in dialogue with Professor of Psychiatry Philip Asherson, #MagicCarpet mobilises Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and how that relates to mind wandering and visual art as a case study. Processes include an artist-in-residency programme, workshops and a range of artistic outputs, including a tapestry art installation, drawings, performances and badges. 10,000 people have experienced #MagicCarpet through its exhibitions, workshops and keynote lectures. Venues include the Science Museum and Southbank Centre. Platforms include the Arts in Mind Festival in London and SOS Dyslexia Conference in San Marino. Press include Big Issue North and Resonance FM. There were also 2 podcasts and 13 short films. One of the films was in the Official Selection of the 2019 Arts and Humanities Research Council Research In Film Award, while another was an EU-funded one viewed 17,545 times in the first month of publication. Publications include an article that was read 2000 times in the first 2 days in The Conversation (10.6 million readers) and a top 2018 editorial on neurodiversity and women in Disability Arts Online. 100% of the feedback for several events state that the work challenges existing understanding of cognitive differences, mental health and interdisciplinary collaborations. An image won a National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement 2018 Images Competition Award for Culture Change, while another was on the cover of British Journal of Psychiatry. #MagicCarpet artworks have also been nominated for Sovereign Asian Art Award 2019, the largest art prize in Asia Pacific. Exuberant and playful, #MagicCarpet exploits art’s propensity for ambiguity, and extends the ambition of the All Party Parliamentary Group report on Arts Health and Wellbeing with its high- quality artistic outcomes that build cultural intelligence. Inclusive and empowering, #MagicCarpet contributes to discourses and practices around: arts leadership; socially-engaged art; drawing; installation, tapestry, performance, disability and participatory art; art writing; interdisciplinary and cross-sectorial collaboration, feminism, intersectionality, medical humanities, inclusive practices and (neuro)diversity, while spearheading what could be termed ‘neurodiverse art’ and ‘ADHD art’. View booklet as slideshow: https://issuu.com/kaisyngtan/docs/2019_magiccarpet_booklet_drkaisyngtan Download booklet: http://kaisyngtan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019_MagicCarpet_booklet_DrKaiSyngTan.pdf Solo exhibition: https://www.craftanddesign.com/events/magiccarpet-a-tapestry-art-exhibition-by-kai-syng-tan/ Website: www.kaisyngtan.com/magiccarpet Twitter: https://twitter.com/wesatonama

Hand-in-Hand: Activating the Body in Motion to Re-Connect with Ourselves and Others amidst a World in Motion and Commotion

My invited chapter was part of a book in French and English which explores readings and writings on a world in movement. It draws on my 7-year research and practice in running, and 20 year research and practice exploring the body in motion as a process of interrogation and intervention in a world in motion and commotion. My chapter asks: Amidst the unstable world today, how could the individual activate their body in motion to create artistic interventions to map — connect and correlate — with the world, other people and themselves? Drawing on an example of a commission entitled Hand-In-Hand commissioned for the Festival of Tiles, a street festival that welcomed 100,000 people to celebrate the beginnings of the French Revolution in Grenoble, France in Summer 2016 and running through its sources of inspiration, the essay invites you to create your own artistic interventions. Post the Brexit Referendum 2016, the work has since been adapted for workshops with: - nurses from the Manchester Royal Infirmary, as a commissioned participatory work as part of Shot in the Dark at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester UK Summer 2016 - GPs who are also lecturers, as a commissioned workshop as part of KUMEC, King's Undergraduate Medical Education Conference Summer 2018 - students of the MA Education in Arts & Cultural Settings, School of Education, Communication & Society, King’s College London October 201

2020: Ten Reasons to Collaborate with Neurodiverse & Creative Allies

On the criticality for scientists to work with creative & neurodiverse allies. Lecture & Masterclass commissioned for the 2020 CoCA Annual Meeting. scheduled for 17/3/2020 at Frankfurt University Hospital. Commissioned for the 2020 CoCA Annual Meeting. CoCA (Comorbid Conditions of ADHD) is a world-leading EU Horizon 2020 funded (50m Euro) consortium that studies the comorbidity between the most frequent psychiatric conditions relating to ADHD. The highly multi- and interdisciplinary consortium comprises 17 partners from 8 European countries (Germany, Netherlands, UK, Estonia, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark) and the US. The partners have expertise in child, adolescent and adult psychiatry and in-depth knowledge on clinical studies, exercise, the circadian system, experimental medicine, mobile health applications, public health interventions, data integration, statistics, bioinformatics, genetics, machine learning, and epidemiology. Watch recorded video clip of presentation here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p5g3tt4rPg&feature=youtu.be Read transcript here https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/transcript-10-reasons-to-collaborate-with-neurodiverse-creative-allies/ See slideshow here. https://issuu.com/kaisyngtan/docs/lecture_frankfurt_kai_2020march17_final_lowre

Running across borders

This Guide explores the notion of border in relation to Live Art and the works of experimental artists that have been addressing issues around physical borders, with a special focus on the current European situation and its multiple crises. My chapter was an exploration of running as a physical and poetic discourse. The Guide includes a theoretical introduction on the relation between Live Art and social sciences’ border theories; a focus on how practitioners are responding to the current shifting European border landscapes through a series of interviews; and a list of resources on the theoretical notion of border, Live Art, and Europe available in LADA’s Study Room

What Has Running Got to Do with Our Divided World?

Artist-curator Dr Kai Syng Tan FRSA provides a rundown of how artists use running to think about the world around us, and invites you to join her at the upcoming RUN! RUN! RUN! Biennale 2016 #r3fest, a relay of three cross-country events (co-curated with Annie Grove-White and Dr Carali McCall). I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA). Founded in 1754, past fellows include Charles Dickens, Stephen Hawking, Karl Marx and William Hogarth. Elected fellows come from 80 countries

A Reflection on Monologue Dialogue 4: Mysticism and Insecurity. Art In An Insecure Age

Monologue Dialogue 4: Mysticism and Insecurity (MD4) was a 16-person international group show held at The Koppel Project at Baker Street, London UK, 4 May – 1 July 2017. It was curated by Professor Andrew Stahl (UCL Slade School of Fine Art). The key focus of the project has been to celebrate transcultural conversations by bringing together artists mainly from Thailand and the UK but also from different parts of the world to install or construct work together, and develop existing contacts between UK and Thai universities and in some way to reflect on the transcultural nature of today’s discourse for artists. Kai was an invited artist and created a new installation. She was also co-curator of numerous public engagement events in the gallery. This included tours of the exhibition and discussions engaging the public, students and artists. including a discussion and tour. Kai also curated a live performance by artist James Steventon, and wrote an article celebrating transculturalism in a precarious age of protectionism and populism. ARTICLE: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/monologue/monologue-final-2.pdf GALLERY + OVERVIEW: https://kaisyngtan.com/portfolio/md4/ KOPPEL PROJECT publicity: http://thekoppelproject.com/monologue-dialogue-4mysticism-insecurity/ABOUT MD4: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/research/projects/monologue-dialogue-4 UCL GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/events/2018/01/05/md4-mysticism-and-insecurity/ ABOUT ANDREW STAHL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/people/academic/profile/ASTAH06 PUBLICITY: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/news/2017/04/monologue-dialogue4-koppel-project DISCUSSION publicity: http://kaisyngtan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MD4-talk-performance-chat-June10.pdf EXHIBITION: The 16 participating artist were mainly from Thailand and the UK, and also included from Singapore, Bangladesh, China and Japan.Eric Bainbridge, Rana Begum, Tintin Cooper, Yvonne Feng, Miranda Housden, Neil Jeffries, Sansern Milindasuta, Atsuko Nakamura, Nipan Oranniwesna, Be Takerng Pattanopas, Tuksina Pipitkul, Nathaniel Rackowe, Andrew Stahl, Kai Syng Tan, Jedsada Tangtrakulwong, and Panya Vijinthanasarn. The Monologue Dialogue series has grown from a British Council initiated and funded residency and exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2006. From then onwards a series of exhibitions have taken place in Bangkok and London with an evolving and expanding group of participating artists. The last exhibition was in 2014 at the BACC (the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre). The key focus for the artists has been to install or construct work in a space/gallery together and in some way to reflect on the transcultural nature of today’s discourse for artists. MD4 is supported by Royal Thai Embassy, UCL Global Engagement, Slade School of Fine Art and Leeds College of Art. The show opened on 3 May 2017 and was attended by the Thai Ambassador to UK. DISCUSSION: On 15 June, there was also an informal evening co-run by Kai with Professor Stahl. There was a discussion (with Manick Govinda/Artsadmin, Loredana Paracciani, Asian art specialist, and Parinot Kunakornwong, London-based Thai artist) on ‘transcultural exchanges in an insecure world’, drinks and a live art intervention by guest artist James Steventon in collaboration with Kai. The performance is partly inspired by Martin Creed’s Work No. 850 (2004) and Claudia Kappenberg’s Slow Races (2014 De La Warr Pavillion). All photos (which are in random order) in this gallery are by Kai Syng Tan unless otherwise stated. The project was supported by UCL Global Engagement Funds. It received additional funding from the Royal Thai Embassy

Tough Ultramarathons and Life on the Run

What are the ways in which running—the popular exercise, the locomotion, the etymology of the word and its rich idiomatic expressions—can be acti- vated as a metaphor and method to think and talk about the so-called migrant crisis and, more generally, how people cross borders today? With phrases like “life on the run,” “letting your imagination run riot,” “running away,” and “running for your life,” how can the poetic processes of running act as a toolkit of resistance as we move about, to “run against” the status quo, in refusing to “take things lying down,” and letting things “come to a standstill”? What are the new frontiers for the twenty-first-century mobile citizen? What does it mean to be a political, digital, existential, and intellectual exile, either forced or voluntary? How can artists make and disseminate work on the move, and reflect on and complicate this life on the move? The above are a few of the overlapping—and contradictory—questions behind this exhibition of eight works put together for Transfers. I created the images over the past six years as a (mediocre) runner, mongrel, and one of 230 million people around the world who live outside the country in which they were born. Artist Ai Wei Wei has created artworks responding to the cur- rent refugee situation in Europe; yet more voices from the cultural sectors could help enrich the discussion dominated by politicians, journalists, scholars, and “Nimbies”— people who oppose something they perceive as detrimental to their immediate reality; “not in my backyard”)