X PACIFIC brings to the fore, 3 individuals from the Asia pacific region from the design streams of fashion, art, and industrial design. From across the globe the discourse of each element of design is taken to the subway entry street screens of Manhattan and into the public realm. Presenting: CHEN Shao-yen, Martha ACKROYD CURTIS & Mark ROUS.
Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese, Central Saint Martins graduate CHEN Shao-yen founded his namesake womenswear label SHAO YEN in 2010 and has since been a regular participant in London and Paris fashion weeks, showcasing designs incorporating practicality with unconventional materials and structures.
Designer CHEN also gained great recognition through a wide range of projects including SHOWstudio’s “Punk” film series, Selfridges London’s “Bright Young Things” young talent initiatives, and exhibitions at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam, Lane Crawford Beijing, the Calais Lace Museum in France and National Palace Museum in Taiwan. From 2016 to 2021, he participated in all five of the “From Ink to Apparel” exhibitions initiated by artist TONG Yang-tze.
His designs also prove highly popular among celebrities and artists including Björk, Shu Qi, Jolin TSAI, Tanya CHUA, and Hebe TIEN.
From 2018 to 2020, he designed costumes for three pieces by the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, including “Spring Riot 2018”, “Lunar Halo” and “Sounding Light”. He opened his concept store “SHAO YEN +” in Yilan, Taiwan in 2022.
Martha Ackroyd Curtis is an award winning Australian writer, podcast host, video, installation and multi- faceted artist. Her work consists of large-scale installation art, which is formulated through cohesive conceptual design. She has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas, and participated in various art festivals; most recently granted invitation from Auckland Festival of Photography part of the Asia Pacific Photo Forum and Independently presented at Contact Photography Festival Toronto, Canada, and Ballarat International Foto Biennale in 2023. She has collaborated and curated projects for Australia’s premier LGBTQIA+ festival: Midsumma Festival. She has won and been a finalist at Australian design awards; Design Fringe and Vivid Design Awards at Australian International Furniture Fair + Decor and Design Show.
New Zealand designer Mark Rous designs have featured in the 2023 Lexus Design Awards and came 2nd in the national competition, and was submitted for entry in the international competition. SADDLE module furniture was a finalist at the DINZ BEST Design Awards 2023. Rous comes from a background of Film, Animation and TV.
X Pacific will also feature a 1 night only pop up street performance art element featuring the Australian performance art group The Stroll Collective whom will stroll Times Square as a pedestrian with mini video screens displayed on briefcases with images and videos from each of the designers, which gives pedestrians another glimpse into each designers repertoire. And brings home the notion of design is all around us. JUST STROLL.The performance in Times Square will take place on Wednesday May 22nd 8:30pm – 9:15pm.
To see previous performances check it here:
https://www.marthaackroydcurtis.com/the-videos-suitcase-project
