Kuo I-Chen: STUPIN.ORG

Founded by Kuo I-Chen in 2017, STUPIN is a platform for artist residencies where individual artists network in the form of studio swaps and as local cultural guides that are much like pins in Google Maps, hence the acronym STUPIN. This platform allows artists to weave a new web of artist residency connections on an international scale.

Kuo I-Chen’s previous body of work was characterized by an artistic language that was poetic and situational. Pivoting around the environment, the fleeting sense of belonging, and a rootless state of mind, his past practice explored the true nature of life through an examination of nonexistence. The artist shifted his focus when he began participating in international artist-in-residence programs in 2012. Enlivened by diverse cultures and milieus, Kuo came to realize the profound impact and benefit of residencies on artistic practice. In addition to bringing artists closer to the international limelight by involving them in international art spheres, residency programs also nurture opportunities for artistic exchange and exhibitions. In recent years Kuo has witnessed many hurdles that face artists in residence, which inspired the inception of STUPIN. The idea is to integrate spaces and social networks around the world through an online platform, along with a simplified application procedure for artist-in-residence programs. 

STUPIN.ORG, Kuo’s solo exhibition at TKG+ Projects, is the first embodiment of the studio-swap residency. In converting the gallery space into an artist’s studio, and bringing together the cradle for art, the finished work, and the commercial end, Kuo investigates the relationship between the artist, the work, and the space it occupies. For this exhibition, Kuo swaps studios with Portuguese artist Filipe Cortez, who works across such mediums as performance, oil painting, sculpture, and installation in surveying the ephemeral landscape of memory, time, and the city through his site-specific work.