Kara Chin works across animation, ceramics, sculpture and installation.
2025 Biennial Year Find out more
She uses playful materials, strange scales and fragmented references in sculptures that come to life as hybrid creatures, constantly shape shifting between object, being and setting. Works often suggest quasi-religious ceremonies, devices or artefacts that reflect on our day to day relationship to fast evolving technologies and ecologies.
Chin lives and works in Newcastle, UK. She holds a BA in Fine Art from The Slade School of Fine Art (2018). She was featured in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018, and has been awarded the Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Prize (2018); The Duveen Travel Scholarship, UCL (2018); The Alfred W Rich Prize, Slade (2017); Max Werner Drawing Prize, Slade (2015).
Chin has exhibited at galleries and museums including: Goldsmiths CCA, London; Humber Street Gallery, Hull; The 8th Triennial of Art and Ecology, Maribor Slovenia; BALTIC39, Newcastle; South London Gallery, London.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
'Mapping the Wasteland: PAY AND DISPLAY', 2025
Kara Chin presents a new interactive multimedia installation for Liverpool Biennial 2025, inspired by Manga and apocalyptic video game graphics that explores rage, grief and nuisance. The artist draws on repeated motifs such as seagulls, parking meters, and the seemingly invasive Buddleia plant often found in cities, including Liverpool. Here, they serve as metaphors for global unease and anguish in the face of economic and ecological decline.
Chin’s installation amplifies low-level and everyday annoyances such as pests, weeds and city centre parking charges, transforming them into almost theatrical or comical over the top explosions of anger. Through doing so, she references how newspaper headlines often exacerbate stories into insidious narratives for clickbait.
However, these nuisance symbols also represent resilience
Kara Chin presents a new interactive multimedia installation for Liverpool Biennial 2025, inspired by Manga and apocalyptic video game graphics that explores rage, grief and nuisance. The artist draws on repeated motifs such as seagulls, parking meters, and the seemingly invasive Buddleia plant often found in cities, including Liverpool. Here, they serve as metaphors for global unease and anguish in the face of economic and ecological decline. Chin’s installation amplifies low-level and everyday annoyances such as pests, weeds and city centre parking charges, transforming them into almost theatrical or comical over the top explosions of anger. Through doing so, she references how newspaper headlines often exacerbate stories into insidious narratives for clickbait. However, these nuisance symbols also represent resilience and the ability to flourish in unlikely environments. The Buddleia plant was first brought to the UK from China in the 1890s and is fondly known as the ‘butterfly bush’ due to its ability to attract butterflies and other pollinators. Chin draws comparisons between Buddleia’s status as an ‘invasive’ species and the racist language used in mainstream media about immigrant populations. Similarly, seagulls also fit into the positive narrative of resilience as adaptable birds that have found alternative ways to thrive in urban environments in the wake of declining food in our oceans and seas. This project extends to the streets of Liverpool with intricate ceramic tiles exhibited along Berry Street. Courtesy of the artist and LINSEED. Co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and FACT Liverpool, with support from Suling Mead. Showing at FACT
'Mapping the Wasteland: PAY AND DISPLAY', 2025
Showing at FACT
Wednesday to Sunday 11:00am-6:00pm-
Kara Chin, 'Mapping the Wasteland: PAY AND DISPLAY', 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at FACT. Photography by Mark McNulty.
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Kara Chin, 'Mapping the Wasteland: PAY AND DISPLAY', 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at FACT. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
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Kara Chin, 'Mapping the Wasteland: PAY AND DISPLAY', 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at FACT. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
'Mapping the Wasteland (trail)' 2025
Chin is an artist working across animation, ceramics, sculpture and installation. She uses unexpected materials, strange scales and fragmented references and imagery to create sculptures which reflect on our day-to-day relationship to fast evolving technology and the world around us.
Along Berry Street, the artist has installed a ‘breadcrumb trail’ of tiles set into the pavement for passers-by to discover. She refers to these intricate works as ‘litter fossils’ as they reference common sights and objects found in cities such as takeaway cartons, seagulls and other city detritus.
The trail of works links Liverpool Biennial 2025 venues, ultimately leading us to FACT Liverpool where Chin presents a new, interactive multimedia installation. Part of the
Chin is an artist working across animation, ceramics, sculpture and installation. She uses unexpected materials, strange scales and fragmented references and imagery to create sculptures which reflect on our day-to-day relationship to fast evolving technology and the world around us. Along Berry Street, the artist has installed a ‘breadcrumb trail’ of tiles set into the pavement for passers-by to discover. She refers to these intricate works as ‘litter fossils’ as they reference common sights and objects found in cities such as takeaway cartons, seagulls and other city detritus. The trail of works links Liverpool Biennial 2025 venues, ultimately leading us to FACT Liverpool where Chin presents a new, interactive multimedia installation. Part of the same body of work, her installation at FACT explores rage, grief and nuisance through repeated motifs such as seagulls, parking meters, and the seemingly invasive Buddleia plant often found in cities including Liverpool. Alongside references to litter seen here, they serve as metaphors for global unease and anguish in the face of economic and ecological decline. Courtesy of the artist and LINSEED. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Suling Mead Showing at Berry Street: Kara Chin
'Mapping the Wasteland (trail)' 2025
Showing at Berry Street: Kara Chin
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Kara Chin, ‘Mapping the Wasteland - Coffee Cup’, Liverpool Biennial 2025 on Berry Street. Photography by Rob Battersby.
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Kara Chin, ‘Mapping the Wasteland - Noodle Box’, Liverpool Biennial 2025 on Berry Street. Photography by Rob Battersby.
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Kara Chin, ‘Mapping the Wasteland - Clamshell Box’, Liverpool Biennial 2025 on Berry Street. Photography by Rob Battersby.
