Chan Ka Kiu

June 11, 2025

Chan Ka Kiu (b.1995 Toronto, Canada) is a Hong Kong based artist, graduated in 2021 from City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative Media (MFA). Chan’s previous exhibitions include solo exhibition with DE SARTHE Gallery, “Late to The Party” (2024, Hong Kong), solo presentation with Parasite, “Don’t come so fast, darling” (Art Basel 2019, Hong Kong), group shows “Very Natural Actions” (TaiKwun, Hong Kong, 2020), and “Tree Fall in the Woods and No One’s There” (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2018).

Can you tell us a little bit about your practice?

I’m Ka Kiu Chan. I grew up in Hong Kong, and my practice is mainly based on moving images and installations. I work a lot with found objects and footage because I think they contain more collective memories than what we create on our own. Sometimes I alter them and put them into my own narration.

Your approach to filmmaking feels like collaging. Do you collect materials first, or do you come up with an idea and then look for what you need?

I think it comes from both ways. Living in a city, things come to you all the time – on your phone, in real life – and sometimes they just stay rent-free in your head. When I write, things from that mental library come up, and sometimes they fit right in. If not, then I’ll go seek something else that adds another layer.

I usually start with what I feel about during that period. Then I sit down and write things out, and think about how to put them into different forms. If it’s going to be a video, I’ll think about what footage or materials I’ve already come across that fit. If they don’t, I’ll look for others, or sometimes use generated images.

Right now, I have a bit of a complicated relationship with them. In the current films I’m making, I use AI images to represent things that aren’t physically real, like heaven or dreams. We don’t really know what those look like, so I use AI to build them. But most of the time, I try to stick to real-life videos or ones others have created. The reason I started using found videos is that when artists make something, it’s always from their own perspective. I want to find ways to make something that includes others’ perspectives as well.

Do you write very specific prompts, or do you keep them open to see what unexpected results come up?

I try to start loose. AI works from a huge dataset, right? So I treat it like a data bank from everyone, from the whole internet. I start with loose prompts to see how it surprises me. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll try to guide it more.

In one video about heaven and hell, there’s this AI-generated horse that runs in a green field. The animal looks off, the legs and the head were moving in different directions. I find those errors kind of precious. AI is only going to get better and more accurate, so these moments of weird imperfection might only exist now. Like how painters know how a hand works, but AI just knows a hand has fingers and ends up creating these multi-fingered meat blobs. It’s funny, and I want to preserve that awkwardness.

I want to keep that naivety. And yes, sometimes I have an image in my head, but I’ve learned you don’t always get what you expect with generated images. But there are other methods, like using start and end frames, where the AI only generates what’s in between. That gives me more control. So it becomes a balance between how much you want to control and how much you let the AI lead.

Your work feels very diaristic, especially that video series about heartbreak. Do you think about how viewers might relate to those emotions when you’re creating, especially through your immersive video and installation work?

I think so. That video series was made when I was still in school. I had just broken up with a classmate, and it was one of the worst heartbreaks I’d had at the time. I was trying to process it, like doing a movie recap of the relationship.

So I made a short video that recapped the whole story in a funny way. That was how I dealt with the emotions. And I realized, “Oh, I actually like making things this way.” It feels like how I talk about things and how I digest experiences.

Then, because film usually lives inside screens, I started thinking about how to bring them out into space, so it’s not just flat on a projector or TV. I started thinking about how video could be part of an object, or how it could move into different dimensions. That’s how I got into doing setups or installations.

I’m curious about your use of humor. I remember your Art Basel performance where someone handed out flyers, but instead of giving them to people, they just dropped them. It was hilarious but I also found it really thoughtful.

That came from a real-life experience. It was during MTR peak hour in Hong Kong, and there were people on the street giving out flyers. No one was paying attention – they just kept doing the same motion, over and over. I tried to take a flyer, but the person didn’t expect anyone to grab it, so we ended up in this little tug-of-war. It was funny but also kind of sad. They were so checked out.

That moment stayed with me. I thought an art fair would be the perfect setting to recreate it. So I hired this woman who looked like a nice Hong Kong mom to hand out fliers to passersby at the fair. She would smile politely, but when someone reached for the flyer, she would just drop it.

Some people laughed, some looked confused. I think humor is a way to be tender. It wraps things in a warmer way and makes them easier to receive.

What’s been on your mind lately in the studio? Any new ideas or projects?

I’m thinking about two possible directions for my next solo exhibition.

One is about motels. I took a series of photos at this one motel right before COVID. It had been closed for ten years, but everything inside was preserved. It felt like people had just left.

The other idea is about office politics, kind of like a soap opera. I’m still deciding between the two.

Chan Ka Kiu

You may also like