User:The Fish/Katya Kan

Note: I didn't write this article - I guess Katya herself did. It was "speedy deleted" twice. But I had met Katya a few times, so when I found out she had died, I requested the contents of the article.

Katya Kan is a practicing multi-media video artist, based in London. An idiosyncratic specimen of globalization, Katya Kan was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan on the eve of the collapse of the USSR. Her father, Alexander Kan is an award-winning existentialist fiction writer of North Korean origin and her mother: the UK’s leading hedge fund trader of Russian heritage. Her parents got divorced when she was 6, resulting in her mother immigrating to the US shortly afterwards in search of greater economic opportunities. Having immigrated to London, UK when she was 10 years old, Kan attended the prestigious South Hampstead High School and North London Collegiate School: the UK’s top ranking girls schools with notable alumni such as the actresses, Helena Bonham Carter and Rachel Weisz. Upon graduating from high school, Kan received the Eleanor Bron Art Prize. A shy and eccentric child, Kan was distinguished by her teachers distinguished her unique train of thought and dedication to her studies.

Kan started her academic career at the University of Edinburgh, reading English Literature with French. Here, she participated in a public speaking clubs to boost her confidence, including the Model United Nations and the Diagnostics Society, the oldest debating society in the UK. She later continued her studies at the San Francisco Art Institute, which had hosted prominent alma mater including photographer, Annie Leibowitz and film director, Kathryn Bigelow. Upon graduating, Kan was awarded the PAHFest and Film Prize by her film professor, Christopher Coppola and Hiro Narita.

Kan’s multi-media art explores the concepts of cultural globalisation, memory and nostalgia and that of a utopia or lost paradise. Having caught a glimpse of the ex-USSR, Kan has a nostalgic and conflicting perception of political and cultural systems. In her video art pieces, she is explores new ways of portraying the human stream-of-consciousness in sensory terms with a DIY approach. Kan is also a proponent of LARP, fabricating regular performance videos in an attempt to reinvent her inner state. Kan’s artistic goal is to recreate the euphoria, experienced before the age of seven, and reach a higher consciousness in Buddhist, esoteric terms. Kan’s visual art has been shown at a wide variety of initiatives around the world, ranging from ICA London and the Whitechapel Gallery in 2018 to the Venice Biennale in 2019. Kan’s films were screened at a range of indie festivals, including the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2014 and the London Experimental Film Festival in 2020. Since 2019, Kan curates a platform for emerging artists with a focus on mental health called Topos Projects in Hackney, London. For more details, visit: www.katyakan.com

1Nikolskaya Irina and Balasheva Ksenia (2020). "Katya Kan’s Solo Show The Epiphany of Wenut" [Online]. Available: https://nikolskaya-gallery.timepad.ru/event/1234062/?fbclid=IwAR1dECIX0Wmy0OWA4IFfoe25u9jGSGO4PtxLwWiwD2iFyFTh8jIPPneENzM [2020]. 2McMurdo Kerryn (2020). "Artist in Residence – Katya Kan" [Online]. Available: https://neslist.is/2020/01/artist-in-residence-katya-kan/ [2020]. 3Benjamin “Katya Kan” [Online]. Available: https://www.thebrunelmuseum.com/events/katya-kan-2019-01-31/ [2019] 4Yergaliyeva Aidana (2019). “Nur-Sultan hosts First Contact exhibition featuring artists born after Kazakh independence” [Online]. Available: https://astanatimes.com/2019/06/nur-sultan-hosts-first-contact-exhibition-featuring-artists-born-after-kazakh-independence/ [2019]. 5Balogh Vanya (2019). “#SOTWO IN MINISCULE @ THE 58TH VENICE BIENNALE” [Online]. Available: http://www.studiokgb.co.uk/exhibitions/miniscule-venice/ [2019] 6Sapasari Art Show (2019). “London Korean Links” [Online]. Available: https://londonkoreanlinks.net/artist-tags/kan-katya/ [2019] 7Jones Tan Ayesha and Robinson Carey (2018). “Self-Protection Manifesto” [Online]. Available: https://www.ica.art/media/00518.pdf [2018]. 8Moore, Ben (2018). “Art Below” [Online]. Available: https://ymlp.com/zT0x2W [2018] 9Baitassova, Dina (2018). “Katya Kan” [Online]. Available: https://2018.astanaartshow.com/ru/artists/katya-kan/ [2018] 10Myndiuk, Raymond (2018) “Portobello Film Festival” [Online]. Available: http://www.portobellofilmfestival.com/2018/sept01muse.html [2018] 11HF Arts Fest (2018) “You and I exhibition by Katya Kan” [Online]. Available: https://www.hf-artsfest.com/events/you-and-i-exhibition-by-katya-kan [2018] 12Bohuslavka Tanya (2018) “Katya Kan” [Online]. Available: http://www.artnessystem.com/katya-kan [2018] 13“One Year of Resistance Group Exhibition January 2018” [Online]. Available: http://untitled-space.com/one-year-of-resistance-group-show/ [2018] 14Williamson Jan (2014) “Katya Kan Exhibition & Residency: June 1 – June 30, 2014” [Online]. Available: https://18thstreet.org/artists/katya-kan/ [2014]