Artist in Residence, Stockholm, 2 June–25 August 2025

Hoo Fan Chon is a visual arts practitioner based in George Town, Malaysia. His research-driven projects are often set in local geographies and concern class aspiration, cultural identity, informal histories, and colonial legacy. By reframing everyday life with irony and wry humour, his works observe the oscillations and assimilations between social classes, the official and the informal, the highbrow and the lowbrow.

Film still from “How To Dance Like A Mudskipper” (single channel full HD Mpeg-4 video, 8.38 min, 2022), Hoo Fan Chon

During this research residency, Hoo aims to conduct a series of studies on the works and cultural influence of Swedish physiologist Per Henrik Ling, the founder of calisthenics, modern physical education, and the “father” of Swedish massage. Hoo will also explore the connection between the erotic film industry in Malmö and how it evaded Malaysian censorship restrictions to be shown in Penang, Malaysia, during the 1970s. By focusing on physical health culture (external), Swedish massage (internal: holistic well-being), and the boundary between beauty and eroticism in the portrayal of archetypal European (Nordic) performers in vintage adult films, Hoo hopes to build a conceptual foundation for upcoming projects in the near future.

He has been selected as part of the Moving Narratives Cycle II cohort, a mentorship programme organized by the Prince Claus Fund in collaboration with the British Council in 2025. He recently completed a one-month fellowship with apexart (NYC, 2024). He participated in the Ilham Art Show 2022 in Kuala Lumpur and was featured in Myth Makers: Spectrosynthesis III in Hong Kong, and The Oceans and the Interpreters in Taipei, Dhaka, and Lagos. His solo exhibitions include The World is Your Restaurant (Kuala Lumpur, 2021) and Let Them Eat Salmon (Singapore, 2023). Hoo graduated with a BA in Photography from the London College of Communication (2010) and co-founded the Run Amok art collective (2012–17) in George Town.