Chan Chiao Chun
“I want to see where the river goes”
19 September - 2 November 2025

opening Friday 19 September 17.00 hrs
by Hester Alberdingk Thijm
Director AkzoNobel Art Foundation

Fragments of the opening speech by
Hester Alberdingk Thijm:

........Birth, growth, pain, death, love, happiness, despair, suffering. Chiao's work explores these fundamental experiences, not from an efficiency-obsessed economic perspective, but as an investigation into humans as beautiful bags of contradictions and anxiety. With the eternal question: how do we live?

Look around you now. This exhibition is constructed as a landscape - a series of trees and flower-like objects surrounded by reliefs that resemble mountains, with a river of colored sand winding through them. The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote about "the forest as a state of mind." I see this river the same way - a natural wonder representing our mental and spiritual moods. Water that shows us the dynamic, ever-changing nature of relationships and events. It teaches us to flow around obstacles rather than dam them up, emphasizing journey over destination.

The centerpiece: five sculptures called "Stand by you." These colorful objects look like tree-like structures or ancient standing stones, that have undergone a psychedelic makeover. But unlike those heavy, stable Stone Age monuments, Chiao's sculptures are more like those inflatable punching bags from childhood - push them, and they wobble back and forth before righting themselves.

As a sculptor, Chiao is fascinated by gravity and balance. But "balance" here isn't just physical - it's intellectual, emotional. The title "Stand by you" suggests a promise, a prayer, a manifesto of trust and commitment. But giving this title to sculptures that can barely stand upright themselves? There's something wonderfully bizarre about that, something that makes us smile while touching our hearts.

........

What helps is the physical nature of these works. Each piece, with its irregular edges, seems torn from something larger. The detailed texture, layering, and flowing paint transforms them from simple images into dynamic, living matter. These fragments aren't static - their flowing appearance embodies the constant merging of life experiences in unstable states, the dynamic process of finding new connections in chaos.

Unlike many artists who impose images onto matter, Chiao seems to reduce images back to matter itself. He doesn't show us a representation of a mental landscape - the work has become the landscape.

And here's what I find most beautiful: Chiao looks at his own objects and speculates about them. They baffle him too. That's the only reason he creates them, and that's what great art should do to all of us - leave us wonderfully confused and eager to understand..........

complete opening speech

The exhibition “I want to see where the river goes” is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by visual artist and designer Chan Chiao Chun. He presents sculptures that transform the external world into an internal, fluid spiritual domain. Each object is like a resting place along a journey, capturing a look back at the past while simultaneously brimming with the unknown and the expectation of the future. Just as the river flows toward a new horizon, these works—like an exploration—embody a continuous journey of self-discovery, fueled by both what has been and what lies ahead. These unique works, which straddle the line between painting and relief, challenge our perception of a static landscape. They are no longer simple images, but dynamic, living matter. Their vibrant colors and flowing textures are not only visual aesthetics but also a direct expression of personal experience, presenting a mental landscape.

Chan Chiao Chun (b. 1984, Tainan, Taiwan) is a visual artist and designer whose intuitive practice stems from the dynamic struggle between himself and the objects that populate his world. In doing so, he masterfully navigates the intersection of contemporary art and design, creating a unique personal vocabulary deeply rooted in his personal history and intercultural background.

Chan has created sculptures in public spaces and had also exhibitions in Taiwan. He presented his work in Milan and Eindhoven and in exhibitions at the Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne, Germany), Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), Galerie Pouloeuff (Naarden) Huidenclub (Rotterdam) and Side Gallery (Barcelona, Spain).
Chan studied at the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven (MA) and teaches at designLAB at the Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam). His work is included in various public and private collections, including the AkzoNobel Art Foundation.

PRESSRELEASE / PERSBERICHT