Category: ABOUT
ABOUT Kai and this website. Email me kai AT kaisyngtan DOT com.
Introducing the Ill-Disciplined Hyperactive Productive Antagonist Octopussy Dr Kai Syng Tan FRSA SFHEA.
3 Fine Art degrees (London, Chicago, Tokyo) and other qualifications in music, mental health, technology and more.
Highlights of career since aged 4; list of 10 fully-funded international artist-in-residency awards and artworks in 13 permanent/public collections.
>£500,000 from UK, Japan, European, Singaporean creative, cultural, governmental, trade, academic, health, and other organisations.
>17 current pro bono affiliations as founder, chair or member to UK, European and international NGOs and professional organisations and collectives across creativity, culture, health, social justice and more.
80 invited / curated keynotes and conferences, including at Sao Paulo, Association of American Geographers Annual Conference in Chicago, University of Oxford and Museum of Sydney.
Volunteering in >19 art and ‘non-art’ roles since 1990’s in Singapore, London, Manchester and more, and winning Excellence Award as London Ambassador 2012 during the London Olympics.
Since 2003, worked in >10 roles as curator / creative research lead, with budget £0 – £4m, in Napidaw (Myanmar), Tokyo, Paris, Cardiff, Leeds, Kuopio (Finland), Israel and Singapore.
Joined Manchester School of Art as Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for interdisciplinary Creative Arts Leadership MA. Member of DVC’s Academic Advisory Group and PVC Education’s National Teaching Fellowship panel. EDI lead/co-lead for Department and University in Race Equality. 4 interdisciplinary / practice-led PhD Supervision.
4 post-doctoral roles as emerging interdisciplinary creative research lead at King’s College London, Lancaster University, University College London, Leeds Arts University (2014-2019).
28 interventions as Creative Research Lead / Curator / Producer (including animated film in official selection of Annecy Film Festival; speed-dating event at South London Gallery); 12 solo shows or major showcases (including Biennale of Sydney, Guangzhou Triennale); 100 invited shows (including with Yayoi Kusama at Sung Kok Art Museum in Korea and a performance at Pompidou), 150 showcases in film festivals (including MOMA New York, Transmediale Festival), 3 interventions in theatre (including Moscow).
>30 Consultancy and interdisciplinary KE roles, including as Reviewer, Expert Panel member with the Icelandic Research Fund, Media Authority of Singapore (2007-2012), Unlimited (Disability Arts) and University of California interdisciplinary journal.
Taught in >200 HEIs since 1998 as Examiner, Pathway Leader, Lecturer, Tutor, Visiting Lecturer, Visiting Artist, including at: King’s Undergraduate Medical Education Community, Goldsmiths University, SIM University in Singapore (External Examiner, Bachelor of Art Education), UCL School of Life & Medical Studies, Royal College of Art, University of Canberra (Australia), Tama Art University (Tokyo), Silliman University (Philippines) and University of Helsinki.
>61 book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, edited publications (as Editor), professional and other publications, books
>37 citations in peer-reviewed journal articles, PhD theses, >100 citations in art catalogues and >100 media engagement, including in EU-funded film watched 40K times, Art It (Japanese art journal), BBC Radio, Times Higher Education.
This page sums up what individuals and institutions need to do to gain access to and to work with me.
What the media, peers, institutions and more in Tokyo, Sydney, UK, Singapore and elsewhere have said about working with me.
I am (co-)founder, (co-)leader, trustee, consultant, co-leader or member of 20 national and international networks and organisations in research, arts, health, and human rights.
03/2020: Keen to explore the messy and magical entanglements between neurodiversity, creativity and research, and all the possibilities and intersections in between? Join the Neurodiversity In/And Creative Research Network, a new international hub.
JOIN NOW! I co-founded and manage the Running Cultures Research Group in 2014 which has been key in helping to widening and advancing the emerging ‘Running Studies as an arts and humanities discourse.