Serene Hui (b.1992, Hong Kong) is an artist and researcher currently based in the Netherlands and Hong Kong. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Ford Foundation Gallery, New York; TENT, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; MMCA, South Korea; Para Site, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Her print editions are collected by Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium; Huis van het Boek (Museum Meermanno) and KB National Library in the Netherlands. She has been an artist-in-residence at Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg; Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium; MMCA Changdong Seoul, South Korea; Nida Art Colony, Lithuania and more. She has given talks at various institutions or lectures such as Cultural Literacy Everywhere, London; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and University of Hong Kong. Her artistic practice has been awarded with the Artist Grant (Kunstenaar Basis) and Artist Project Grant (Kunstenaar Project) by Mondriaan Fonds, The Netherlands in 2023 and 2024. Serene received her Master’s Degree of Artistic Research from The Royal Academy, The Hague in 2021. In the same year she published independently the first book-length publication “May We Live In Interesting Times- The Politics and Poetics of Ambivalence”.
Many of her projects are involved in a discursive, artistic and political exploration of her immediate surroundings and feature objects loaded with social, political and experiential meaning. Her practice is currently invested in epistemological colonialism for the ways it affects social structures, languages, psychology and its potential susceptibility for manipulation. Serene’s works are research-focused and multi-faceted, engaging primarily with installation, audio and live works, printmaking and text.
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Many of her projects are involved in a discursive, artistic and political exploration of her immediate surroundings and feature objects loaded with social, political and experiential meaning. Her practice is currently invested in epistemological colonialism for the ways it affects social structures, languages, psychology and its potential susceptibility for manipulation. Serene’s works are research-focused and multi-faceted, engaging primarily with installation, audio and live works, printmaking and text.
SOLO PRESENTATIONS
2024 Fricatives, Mute and Fugue - A Prelude, puntWG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2023 Siren - as part of Scold, Gossip and Siren, Performance and Solo Presentation, Artists’ Book Library, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2023 What Kinds Of Times Are These, When To Talk About Trees Is Almost A Crime, solo exhibition, SinArts Gallery, The Netherlands
2022 Non-academic lecture: Silverfish - Parasitic Guest/Host by Serene Hui, Para Site, Hong Kong
2021 Songs of Ambivalence - Performative Reading by Serene Hui, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2021 We talked and you have forgotten the words - Lecture Performance by Serene Hui, Post-Human Narratives, Cattle Depot Artist Village, Hong Kong
2021 What Kinds Of Times Are These, When To Talk About Trees Is Almost A Crime, Royal Academy of Art The Hague, The Netherlands
2021 Post-Human Narratives - We, The Searchers v.2.0., Curated by Kobe Ko, online
2020 This Year There Were Very Few Fireworks (Silent Fire/Works Rhapsody), De Aanschouw, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2020 We, The Searchers, Page Not Found, The Hague, The Netherlands
2018 Words Unsaid, Then Forgotten, Arts 3331 Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
2017 Everyday is just another day - Exhibition of HUI Serene Sze Lok, Venice Arts Project, Venice, Italy
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, PROJECTS & COMMISSIONS
2024 Cantando Bajito: Incantations, Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, U.S.
2024 Bad Romance: Affective Body with its Misapprehension and Rumours, Waley Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2023 MMCA Residency Changdong Report 2023 : My Name Is, MMCA, Seoul, South Korea
2023 Speak, You - Sound Forms 2023, Co-Presented by Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong and Tai Kwun Contemporary, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2023 Sounds Like Print, Artists’ Book Library, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2022 There is no party so noisy as the one you’re not invited to, curated by Linnea Semmerling, TENT, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2022 La Quinta Stagione - II Edizione, curated by Benedetta Spagnuolo, Genova, Italy
2022 CreAct – The Limits of the Artist Book, Huis van het Boek, curated by Stichting Grafein, Den Haag, The Netherlands
2022 Dodog & Friends, presented by KAPITAAL + Stichting Grafein, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2022 In The Name of Scientific Witchery, Post-Human Narratives Phase 3, Para Site, Hong Kong
2021 Rooftop Studio & Archive Project, Para Site, Hong Kong
2021 Trust & Confusion, curated by Raimundas Malašauskas and Xue Tan, Tai Kwun Contemporary Museum, Hong Kong
2021 Birds Don’t Take The Train, But We Do, Artist in Retreat, curated by Xenia Klein, Blekinge, Sweden & Online
2021 Post-Human Narratives - The Coexisting Land, curated by Kobe Ko, Cattle Depot Artist Village, Hong Kong
2021 Non Native Native Fair, curated by Non Native Native (NNN), online
2021 Post-Human Narratives - Phase 1, Curated by Kobe Ko, online
2021 Sun Kissed // Fog Off, Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives, The Hague, The Netherlands
2020 The Ongoing Conversation #7, Gallery 1646, The Hague, The Netherlands
2020 3331 Art Fair Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2020 A Simple Fizz, Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives, The Hague, The Netherlands
2019 FOLKLORE, Bedroom, Hong Kong
2018 A Song A Zine, dotdotdot Zine launch 2018, Hong Kong
2018 Nearly There, AIR 3331 Studio, Arts 3331 Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2018 無何有之香 - 文學x視藝展覽, 香港文學生活館 Hong Kong House of Literature
2018 WHY PRINT : Biennial Printmaking Exhibition, Presented by Marble Print Clay, Hong Kong
2017 Time, Space & Architecture, Cityscapes Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2017 Travelling between Time and Matter, G126, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2017 Hold Your Breath, Feel the Time, Stichting Kaus Australis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2017 The Factory 2017 (Exhibition in the old herring factory in Djúpaviík), Djúpaviík, Iceland
2017 Dimension Convertor - Exhibition by Serene Hui and Bobby Yu, 100 ft. PARK, Hong Kong
RESIDENCIES
2024 Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium
2024 AirWG, Atelier-WG Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2023 MMCA International Artist/Researcher Residency Program, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea
2022 NIDA Art Colony, Nida, Lithuania
2021 Rooftop Studio & Archive Project, Para Site, Hong Kong
2018 3331 Art Chiyoda International Artist-in-Residency Program, Tokyo, Japan
2017 Artist Initiative Kaus Australis Residency Program, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2016 Listhus Artist Residency Program, Olafsfjordur, North Iceland
CONFERENCES, PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS, WORKSHOPS
2022 Research Academy 2022 Performative Practice, with Florian Malzacher (Germany) and Dana Yahalomi (Israel), Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)
2022 ‘Studio + Archive’ Sharing Session with Jeff Cheng, Serene Hui, and Li Hiuwa, Para Site, Hong Kong - Resident Artist/ Public Presentation
2022 Performative & Experiential Translation : Meaning-Making through Language, Art and Media Conference, King’s College London
2022 CLE 2022: DWELLING Symposium, Cultural Literacy Everywhere and University College Dublin - Guest Artist/ Workshop
2021 Open Studio Artist’s Sharing, Rooftop Studio & Archive Project, Para Site, Hong Kong - Resident Artist/ Public Presentation
2021 After Hope Symposium, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco - Guest Speaker/ Panel Discussion invited by and with Yang Yeung
2021 Samtidskonstdagarna 2021, organised by Statens Konstråd, Sweden - Panel Presentation invited by and with Xenia Klein
2021 What Kinds Of Times Are These, When To Talk About Trees Is Almost A Crime Artist Sharing and Reading performance, SinArts Gallery, The Hague - Guest Artist/ Presentation
2019 Queer Visibility and Printed Matter : a dialogue with Marrz Saludez Balaoro and Serene Hui Sze-Lok, Queer Reads Library and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal - Guest Speaker/ Public Presentation
2018 Harbour Arts Sculpture Park, Jockey Club Arts Education Programme by Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong - Artist Tutor : In Dialogue with Sculptures
2018 Canvas Artist Talks, Tokyo, Japan - Guest Artist/ Public Presentation
PUBLICATIONS & ARTIST BOOKS
2023 Siren - as part of Scold, Gossip and Siren, Artist publication and music score book, co-published with Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2021 Today’s Archive is (Not) Tomorrow’s History, supported by Para Site, Hong Kong
2021 May We Live In Interesting Times - The Politics and Poetics of Ambivalence, Independent publishing, The Netherlands
2020 WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE MARKS OF ERASURE ON A SOCIETY IN CRISIS?, Amsterdam Alternative Issue #030 : May - June 2020, The Netherlands
2020 We, The Searchers, Independent publishing, The Netherlands
2018 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN ME AND MY GHOST / WORDS UNSAID, THEN FORGOTTEN, Independent publishing, Hong Kong
2017 Hello, Darkness my old friend, Independent publishing, Hong Kong
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2024 Cultural Exchange Grant, Hong Kong Art Development Council, Hong Kong S.A.R.
2023 Cultural Exchange Grant, Hong Kong Art Development Council, Hong Kong S.A.R.
2023 Artist Grant (Kunstenaar Basis), Mondriaan Fonds, The Netherlands
2023 SPOT Individual Exhibition Grant, Stroom Den Haag, The Netherlands
2022 Pro Invest Grant, Stroom Den Haag, The Netherlands
2018 Cultural Exchange Grant, Hong Kong Art Development Council, Hong Kong S.A.R.
2017 Arts Development Fund of the Home Affairs Bureau, Hong Kong S.A.R.
2017 Professor Mayching Kao Fine Arts Fund - Artist-in-residence, Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
COLLECTION
KB Nationale Bibliotheek, The Netherlands
Huis van het boek, The Netherlands
Private Collection, Hong Kong & The Netherlands