Lena Chen (b. 1987, San Francisco) is a Chinese American writer and artist creating performances and socially engaged art in live and virtual contexts. Awarded “Best Emerging Talent” at B3 Biennial of the Moving Image (Frankfurt) and the Judson-Morrissey Excellence in New Media Award, her work has appeared at Transmediale (Berlin), Färgfabriken (Stockholm), Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (Antwerp), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Centre for Contemporary Art (Derry~Londonderry), INVERSE Performance Art Festival (Bentonville), Tempting Failure (London), and Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, among others.

She has been awarded grants and residencies from Sundance Institute, UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, Millay Colony for the Arts, Office of Public Art (Pittsburgh), Burning Man Global Arts Fund, Civic Media Lab, Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Wave Pool Gallery, Women’s Media Center, and Kelly Strayhorn Theater. A founding member of the artist collective, Maternal Fantasies, she is the recipient of the Arthur Boskamp Foundation Advancement Award 2019/2020. She has spoken widely on feminist art and activism at venues such as Oxford, Yale, Stanford, SXSW, and re:publica. In 2021, a participatory performance she co-produced for German media arts festival Die Digitale was censored by the Düsseldorf public transit authorities.

Chen is the founder of Heal Her, an expressive arts initiative that has convened storytelling circles, festivals, and events in seven countries for survivors of gender-based violence. She holds dual US and German residency and is based between Pittsburgh and Berlin.

The Design and Technology programs at Parsons present Cloud Salon, a Zoom webinar series that invites artists, designers, technologists, and industry professionals to present projects and to engage in direct conversations with participants.

This talk will begin with a 20-minute presentation by Lena Chen, followed by a 40-minute conversation with participants, moderated by Xin Xin, Assistant Professor of Interaction and Media Design at Parsons.

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