The Extracurriculars: Lisa Tan

Artist Lisa Tan opens the program series “The Extracurriculars” by focusing on Mike Kelley’s work “Sublevel” (1998) and the earlier work “Educational Complex” (1995). She examines how Kelley used architectural models to express his fascination with how places and educational environments shape our social behaviours and norms.

Art has long been used as a tool for self-knowledge and has often turned to architecture to explore what lies hidden in the psyche and its concealed corners. Through spatial representations, one attempts to understand the complexity of inner life, approach topics such as memory, trauma and indoctrination, and show how our subjectivity is shaped by the functions and behaviours that each spatial environment gives rise to.

In her talk, Lisa Tan will bring to life Kelley’s influence on her own work, where the complexity of subjectivity and psyche take shape as spatial constructions.

Lisa Tan

Lisa Tan is an artist and educator based in Stockholm. Her work traces the contours of life as it is shaped by desire and determined by the contingent encounters that form it.

Tan’s work was included in the 11th Gothenburg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, 11th Shanghai Biennale, and the New Museum Triennial. Last year, Tan released a book with Mousse Publishing on the occasion of her exhibition, “Dodge and/or Burn” at Accelerator in Stockholm, curated by Therese Kellner.

Lisa Tan is Professor of Art at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design and visiting faculty in the MFA program at Bard College.