Fantasy Knit Textile Art: Never Ending Story

On Sept. 13 2012, Contaminate NYC hosted the start of “Never Ending Story”, an experiential art evening dedicated to London-based Artist Chia-Shan Lee. The show is the first of a series of exhibitions dedicated to the winners of One Hundred Days (OneHundredDays.us), an international juried art competition, launched by Contaminate NYC in the fall of 2011, which challenged artists to create a project inspired by the principles of sustain­ability. This exhibition – ongoing until Oct. 15, 2012 showcases Chia-Shan’s installation “Never Ending Story”, winner of the competition for the Environmental Track.

Inspired by both the concept of information overload in contemporary society and the waste of resources associated to newspapers’ production (2.5 million tons of newspapers are produced and circulated each year in the U.K.), Chia-Shan narrates a contemporary fairy-tale employing newspaper yarns as story-telling material, as she believes that the abstract meaning of the words recording daily news fills them with emotions and messages.

In her vision, the energy of the words is the key to rethink the values and use of newspapers and their impact on people’s life. Combining critical theory with the creative aspect of textiles and the symbolic meaning of newspapers words, she created an installation of clothes and sculptures with the purpose of raising awareness on the issues of newspaper recycling and resources waste. During the opening night, the installation came to life with performers wearing Chia-Shan’s creations and stag­ing her fairy-tale under the direction of choreographer Vanessa Walters.

ABOUT CHIA-SHAN LEE

Born in 1985 in Taiwan, Chia-Shan Lee is a London-based textile artist and knitwear designer working in the fashion and art world since 2008. Chia-Shan has shown her work in Asia and Europe in several solo-shows and group exhibitions such as the Taipei World Design Expo in 2011, Taiwan and the Formosa Show, London Design Festival, and Candid Arts Gallery in London in 2011. She was shortlisted as finalist for the Valcellina Award International Textile for the Fiber Art Competition, Italy, in 2012. Chia-Shan holds a Bachelor degree in Textile design at Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan, and a Masters degree in Textile Design at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.

For more information visit chiashanlee.com.

ABOUT ONE HUNDRED DAYS:

ONE HUNDRED DAYS is a biennial international competition for emerging and undiscovered talent worldwide ideated by Contaminate NYC. For the first edition, launched in the fall of 2011, artists were asked to create a visual or installa­tion project aimed at raising awareness about sustainability issues, demonstrating the creative potential of the fine arts with regards to environmental, social, and economic issues and their role in a much needed societal transformation pro­cess. The first edition closed on March 31st and touched more than 10,000 viewers in 1,133 cities and 97 countries, with the largest outreach in the U.S. and Europe. Amsterdam-based duo Wouter Kalis and Corinne De Korver won the economic track with the project Social Unit, London-based artist Jei Ryung Lee won the Social track with her project Hollow and Chia-Shan Lee won the Environmental Track with her project "Never Ending Story".

The jury was composed by Anne Imelda-Radice, former Director of The Institute of Museum and Library Service; Ste­fano Albertini, Director of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò; Emanuela Mazzonis, Curator at François Pinault Collection and exhibitor coordinator for Artemisia Group in Milan; Sarah Small, Photographer and Performance Artist; Kristin Hanson, Gallery Owner and Designer; and Marco Roveda, President and Founder of Lifegate.

For more information about One Hundred Days and the competition winners visit OneHundredDays.us.

ABOUT CONTAMINATE NYC

Contaminate NYC is a social platform for immersive art experiences that redefines artistic happenings, contaminating art forms, ideas, cultures, aesthetics, and peoples throughout the world. Through unleashing hidden potential in creators and viewers alike, Contaminate NYC produces one-of-a-kind art experiences.

For more information visit ContaminateNYC.com.

Source: One Hundred Days Press