K.Chen

︎︎︎ CV

︎︎︎ @k.chen._
︎︎︎ sr0097.kc@gmail.com

Kuan-Ting Chen, graduated from Graphic Design Arnhem, ArtEZ the University of the Arts. From Tainan, Taiwan, a country. Currently based in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

Focusing on books, types, researching, and cultural topics.

Welcome for any commissions or collaborations, send me an email or dm via Instagram.

︎ Upcoming

To be continue...

︎ Events

Residency program <Some fire to melt these icy icy new beginnings> | 22-28 Jan. | @Extrapool, Nijmegen
Leave to be SEEN, typographical workshop | 16 Dec., 2023 | ︎︎︎Lorem ipsum | @Midwest, Amsterdam
12F Originality exhibited in Sectie-C Dutch Design Week 2023, with ︎︎︎1m2 Collective
Chop-Chop Workshop_Rush Print #003 | 30 Sept., | @ENTER ENTER, Amtel
Just Enschede Salon 2023 | 29 Sept., 2023 | @Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
It’s Not Rock(et) Science — An typographical workshop | 02 Sept., 2023 | @Limestone Books, Grote Gracht 63, Maastricht
The Best Dutch Book Designs 2021 presented by GRID Graphic Museum | 08 Jun - 02 Jul, 2023 | @Hooghouse, Spilsluizen 17, 9712 NR Groningen
‘to COLLLECT & COMPILE’, Conversation with Michiel Teeuw, 10 Jun, 2023 | @Hooghouse, Spilsluizen 17, 9712 NR Groningen
TPADD Assoc. 2022 Conference ft. Mutual Friends—「未來筆記」 | 19 Nov, 2022 | ︎︎︎Link
The Best Dutch Book Design Exhibition @Stedelijk Museum | 08 Oct-06 Nov | 2022 /︎︎︎Link
Zefir7 - BNO evening @Stroom Den Haag | October 18, 2022 | ︎︎︎link
Just Enschede Salon, ‘How to Build Your OWN Tables in the Book Industry’ at the opening of the exhibition The Best Dutch Book Designs @Stedelijk Museum | 2022 | ︎︎︎Img
TPADD Assoc. 2021 Conference ft. Mutual Friends—Metaverse, Co-Speaker | 2021
Saturday Type Fever See and seek workshop | 2020
five-thirty Type Talk @Letterspace, Amsterdam | 2019

︎ Awards

<Rush Print 003: Chop-Chop Workshop> been selected by student jury as part of ︎︎︎The Best Dutch Book Design | 2023
<Met Stoelen> been selected as Gold Medal of the ︎︎︎Best Book from All Over the World | 2022
<Met Stoelen> been selected by professional jury as part of ︎︎︎The Best Dutch Book Design | 2022

︎ Member

︎︎︎ Taipei Art Direction & Design Assoc. // Executive Supervisor

︎︎︎ Five-thirty Typeclub

︎ Work Experience

︎︎︎ Jing He /2022

︎︎︎ Hans Gremmen /2022-2023
︎︎︎ Empty quarter workshop /2020

︎︎︎ Yaode JN /2020

︎ MET STOELEN

2021

Design/Concept: K.Chen
Cover Illustration: ︎︎︎ Can
Typeface: Capitolina Regular
Paper: Recystar 80g, Elementa 60g, Fastprint Grijs 80g
Print: ArtEZ CannonDownstairs
Bind: K.Chen /Japanese Bind, Glue Bind
Size: 15526716 /mm
Image Credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Special thanks
Jeremy Jansen
Candela Lejarraga
Evaline Losse
Sjoerd van Ree

All Images were collected from ︎︎︎ Rijks Studio

Discussing the relationship between humans and objects, specifically chairs and the story of them. To do this, images were used from the archives of the Rijksstudio. The book is divided into three chapters: sketches of the chair, photograph documentations of the chair, and images of how people engage with chairs. Each one of these chapters represents a different stage in the life of a chair, from preproduction to user behaviors and interactions.
To explore the connection between the form of chairs and books, the shape of a half-opened book (in a sort of L shape) can be seen as the back and the seat of a chair. Then of course the special Japanese-bound second chapter serves as a nice, fluffy cushion.

︎ TROPICAL READING: PHOTOBOOK AND SELF-PUBLISHING | 2ND ED.

2024

Author: ︎︎︎ Fotobook DUMMIES Day (Liu Chao-tze, Lin Junye)
Coordinator: Jhen Chen | Fotobook DUMMIES Day
Designer: K.Chen
Editor: Jhen Chen, Joanna Lee, K.Chen, Simon Scott, Valentin Marmonier
Translator: Joanna Lee
Edition: 400
Text: English
ISBN: 9789083361635
Published by: ︎︎︎ Limestone Books
Published in: Feb. 2024
Sponsored by: Stimuleringsfonds

Production and Lithography: Pascal Walters (Drukkerij Walters Maastricht bv)
Printing: Pascal Walters (Drukkerij Walters Maastricht bv)
Paper: Colorplan Factory Yellow / Fuchsia Pink / Lockwood Green 175 gr (Cover), PaperWise Natural 90 gr (Interior), RecyStar Nature 80 gr (Interior)
Binder: Binderij Van Wijk Utrecht bv.
Typeface: BioRhyme Expanded Bold, Capitolina Italic, Hiragino Sans W5, W6
Special Thanks: Matt Johnston, Chen Yi-Chiu

First edition published in Chinese and English as 熱帶島讀：攝影書與自出版 Tropical Reading: Photobook and Self-Publishing by Fotobook DUMMIES Day Ⓒ Fotobook DUMMIES Day and pon ding, 2022. Second edition published in English as Tropical Reading: Photobook and Self-Publishing by Fotobook DUMMIES Day Ⓒ Fotobook DUMMIES Day and Limestone Books, 2024

Tropical Reading: Photobook and Self-Publishing illustrate the photography practitioners and artist collectives from each city in Southeast Asia, examining why they chose to get into self-publishing. It explores how independent art bookstores came to be the social parlours of the self-publishing crowd. Furthermore, observes how the outsider artists, archives and arts initiatives of Southeast Asia came to shape the face of photography and self-publishing in their respective cities. The index is a compilation of our project field research, condensing the profiles of all the interviewees – from people to bookstores to organizations – to make a kind of alternative Yellow Pages for the Southeast Asian art scene.

︎ IF YOU STAND FAR AWAY ENOUGH, YOU CAN STILL SEE THE DINOSAURS

2023

∵ PROJECT

Concept, Design, Execution: K.Chen
Head of Department: Maaike van Neck
Coordinator: Patricia Bosveld
Supervisor: Donna Verheijden, Jeremy Jansen, Joris Maltha, Monika Gruzite, Remco van Bladel
Special Thanks: Annegien Schilling, Benjamin McMillan, Jonas Riemersma, PW Chang, TK Liao, Uus Offerhaus, Weiquarter, Yaya Huang
Mental Support: CF Tsay, Kasper Quaink, Mama Chen

∵ INSTALLATION

Technical Support: Doeke Wartena, Kiloyd, Wumou
Workshop Consult: Bart Bekker, John William Gelsing, Wily van Haren, Wouter Roemaat, Yaya Huang

If You Stand Far Away Enough, You Can Still See the Dinosaurs.
The universe that surrounds us is vast, and we are so very small. When we reflect on the vastness of the universe, our humdrum cosmic location, and the inevitable future demise of humanity, our lives can seem utterly insignificant.[1]
As humans, our being is considered ephemeral. Whether it is you, me, or our loved ones, within a short span of 70 to 100 years we will come to die, be cremated or buried, and eventually dissolve into the dust of nature. Compared to the cosmos, the life of human beings is merely a flicker.
Despite the inevitable fading of the physical body, does our existence dissipate at the time of death? In the present, we observe the light emitted by stars light-years away through space telescopes, light that has travelled through the universe for tens of thousands of years before coalescing into an image. If you stand on a star 66 million light-years away and look back at Earth, you can still see the dinosaurs. Our existence is frozen in photons, radiating towards the infinity of the cosmos.

This work encompassing 3 installations explores how our existence relates to time and space:

In an empty space, 3 webcams are connected to separate monitors. The 1st camera points to an open space, recording the behaviour of the audience. Its feed is broadcasted to a monitor to which, the 2nd camera is pointed. Recursively, the 3rd camera records the footage that the 2nd broadcasts to a monitor, and projects it to another screen.
The three monitors have been modified individually; one transparent, one semi-transparent, and one a regular screen. Each displaying the delayed stream from the webcam it’s connected to, through which the audience gazes into different timelines of themselves that have been captured by the webcam. These three views, represent intermediate fragments of a sight of Earth from a distant star. The images of the audience’s near past frozen in the photons, like those projected from the star, an irrefutable proof of their existence.

[1] Guy Kahane. Our Cosmic Insignificance. Nous. 2014 Dec 1;48(4):745-772. doi: 10.1111/nous.12030. PMID: 25729095; PMCID: PMC4340547.

︎ IF YOU STAND FAR AWAY ENOUGH, YOU CAN STILL SEE THE DINOSAURS | BOOKLET

2023

∵ PROJECT

Concept, Design, Execution: K.Chen
Head of Department: Maaike van Neck
Coordinator: Patricia Bosveld
Supervisor: Donna Verheijden, Jeremy Jansen, Joris Maltha, Monika Gruzite, Remco van Bladel
Special Thanks: Annegien Schilling, Benjamin McMillan, Jonas Riemersma, PW Chang, TK Liao, Uus Offerhaus, Weiquarter, Yaya Huang
Mental Support: CF Tsay, Kasper Quaink, Mama Chen

∵ BOOK

Text: K.Chen
Text Editing: Ismael Abderrahim Arribas
Imagery Editing: K.Chen
Technical Support: Sjoerd van Ree, Tofe Al-Obaidi
Typefaces: Hiragino Sans, IBM Plex Mono
Paper: Curious Matter 135 gr, ColorAction Iceland 80 gr, Trophee Zwart 80 gr, Recystar 80 gr, Cromatico 90 gr
Print: @ArtEZ CannonUpstairs
Binding: Saddle Stitch Binding

If You Stand Far Away Enough, You Can Still See the Dinosaurs.
The launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, in 1957 marks the inception of human space navigation, heralding the dawn of the Space Age. Subsequent milestones include Yuri Gagarin’s historic orbital flight in 1961 and the transcendental Apollo moon missions of the late 1960s. The advent of the Space Shuttle program in 1981 revolutionized space travel, while the International Space Station, launched in 2000, stands as a symbol of international collaboration in space.
Based on their designated objectives and operational functions, spacecrafts can be classified into three distinct roles: Capturer, Navigator, and Explorer. These categorizations are derived from the various purposes and actions undertaken by spacecrafts.

> Capturer_Space Telescope Persistently executing its mission within a trajectory encompassing a celestial expanse situated 54 km above the terrestrial plane, this system engages in the reception of spatial imagery. Subsequently, it transmits the acquired visual data back to the terrestrial observation station.

> Navigator_Artificial Satellite Operating at an elevation of 2000 km, akin to the role of a mirror, it assumes a position to relay comprehensive terrestrial data back to the observation station.

> Explorer_Space Probe Embodying the spirit of discovery by venturing into uncharted frontiers realms of the cosmos, and heading towards the end of the void. They utilize advanced scientific instruments to probe distant celestial bodies and study their atmospheric compositions.

The transparency and the position of the monitors in the installation were inspired both by the relationship between data transmission and the spacecrafts, and by the idea of observing and viewing. The height and positions at which the monitors are held shape the postures of the audience’s engagement. From looking up and admiring [stargazer], to zooming in and inspecting [astronomer], the audience is compelled to engage with each monitor in the installation as they would with a fragment of a distant sky.

︎ ARTEZ OPEN DAY IDENTITY 2023