Whiskey Chow

Whiskey Chow’s practice engages with political issues and related topics: from queer(ing) masculinity, problematising the nation-state across geographic boundaries, interrogating stereotypical projections of Chinese/Asian identity, to enabling empowerment by queer-reading ancient Chinese myth. Her work is interdisciplinary: performance, moving image, digital direction, sculpture, and experimental printmaking.

Shortlist, Unlimited UK Partner Awards: Liverpool Biennial, 2024

New Queers on the Block, 2022

Diverse Actions New Work: Whiskey Chow, The Moon is Warmer than the Sun, 2019

Queer Fighters

2022 – Present

Supported by Marlborough Production (New Queers on the Block)

I am exploring queer fight from a self-defence perspective through workshops with local queer communities to co-imagine and create queer heroes. These workshops aim to provide an empowering and healing space for participants and beyond.

Inspired by Bruce Lee and his philosophy, I am using gaming, martial arts, and unconventional self-defence to develop a form of fighting in a gaming context that honours the lived experiences and representation of queer bodies. Collaborating with gaming experts, theorists, and participants, I envision a world of queer fighters where individuals see themselves and their communities reflected.

Queering Now 酷兒鬧

2019 – Present

Supported by Arts Council England and Kakilang (fka. Chinese Arts Now)

Queering Now 酷兒鬧 is a curatorial programme amplifying and championing marginalised voices of the queer Chinese/Asian diaspora in the West.

As an artist-curator, I aim to create a space that transcends institutional and White gazes, empowering peer Asian queer diaspora artists and myself with creative freedom, a radical homeland, and a playground free from the obligation to perform identity.

Exhibitions

(2024) Ultraviolet, 15 Bateman Street. London

(2024) Trans Daddy, St Paul’s Multi-Plex, London

(2024) QUEERCALL Festival, CT20, Folkestone, Kent, UK

(2024) SOFT & HARD: Beyond Recognition and Queer Coding, The Art House, Wakefield, UK

(2023) Queeropometry, (In)directions: Queerness in Chinese Contemporary Photography, Eli Klein Gallery, New York

(2023) Dreaming of Home, Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York

(2023) MANIFESTATIONS, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton, UK

(2023) V&A Friday Late: The Body Beautiful, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

(2023) HEADSTRONG, Centre for British Photography, London, UK

(2022) PAF Olomouc 2022: 21st Festival of Film and Animation and Contemporary Art, Olomouc, Czech Republic

(2022) On Queer Ground, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK

(2021) Dream Babes HK – Real Fantasy, Hong Kong

(2021) LIVE ACTION SPELLS FOR QUEER BODIES, Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest, London

(2021) Ex-Live, EXiS Experimental Film & Video Festival, Seoul

(2021) The House of Queering Now, Queering Now 酷兒鬧 2021: Dreamality, Online

(2021) BUZZCUT super-stream, BUZZCUT Festival 2021, Online

(2020) Ungoverned, Wysing Polyphonic Festival, Online

(2020) Queering Now, Chinese Arts Now Festival 2020, Rich Mix, London

(2019) Very Fierce Grand Opening, Fierce Festival 2019, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK

(2019) A View from Elsewhere, Act 2 (Sin Wai Kin ft. Whiskey Chow and Shy One), Kiss My Genders Live, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London

(2019) UNCENSORED Festival, The Yard Theatre, London

(2019) The Moon is Warmer than the Sun (London Premiere), Artsadmin (Toynbee Studios), London

(2018) Hidden RCA 2018, Royal College of Art, London

(2018) London Nights Late: Join the Night London Council, Museum of London, London

(2018) Queer Asia Film Festival, British Museum, London

(2018) QUEER and NOW, Tate Britain, London

(2018) MCR AFTER HOURS Whiskey Chow, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, UK

(2018) Intergenerational Studio: Joan Jonas, Tate Modern, London, UK

(2017) Friday Late: Sino Flux (ft. Haocheng Wu), Victoria and Albert Museum, London

(2017) Art Licks Weekend/// Archiving Fever: Here I am, There you are, The Square Gallery, London

(2017) s p i t t i n g distance. UCA’s Brewery Tap Project Space, Folkestone, UK

(2017) Revolve Performance Festival, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala, Sweden

(2017) Tender Loin #7. Toynbee Studios (Artsadmin), London, UK

(2016) Liberté D'Action – Performance Works. L’Amour, Paris

(2016) Performance Art Meeting. Galeria Labirynt, Lublin, Poland

(2016) Lime-in-aid. Limehouse Town Hall, London

(2016) Live Import/ Live Export, Liverpool Biennial Fringe. High Park Street Reservoir, Liverpool, UK

(2016) Revolve. Performance Art Days. Uppsala Centralstation, Uppsala, Sweden

Publications

(2023) ‘Dreaming of Home’ Podcast Episode 3, Gemma Rolls-Bentley in conversation with Whiskey Chow and Charmaine Poh, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Online

(2022) Article: “Queer Time and East Asian Diaspora Experiences of Gender Expansivity.”, co-written with June Lam and Taey Iohe, Asia-Art-Activism: Experiments in Care and Collective Disobedience. Edited by Annie Jael Kwan and Joanna Walfarth

(2020) Recorded interview: ‘From the Cages to the Queer Blue Sky’: WHAT CAN ART DO during and beyond global crisis? A BORDERLESS Conversation Between Cassils, rafa esparza and Whiskey Chow, performingbordersLIVE20, Released online

(2019) Academic paper: “Queering Boundaries: art, politics and activism in performance art”, co-edited with Naying Ren, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 6.1 Issue

(2019–22) Associate Lecturer, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London

(2020) Chinese Arts Now representative, Fuel Theatre COVID-19 Freelance Task Force Initiative