Acme Studios — Erika Tan

Supporting Artists since 1972


Erika Tan

Fire Station Residency
2001-2005

Erika Tan is an artist and curator based in London. Her work is primarily research-led and manifests itself in multiple formats such as moving image, publications, curatorial and participatory projects. Erika’s most recent research has focused on the postcolonial and transnational, working with archival artifacts, exhibition histories, received narratives, contested heritage, subjugated voices and the transnational movement of ideas, people and objects. Her future projects point towards the digitization of collective cultural memory and cloud architecture through the prism of ruins, hauntings, and mnemonic collapse.

Erika’s work has been exhibited, collected and commissioned internationally including: Barang-Barang, Stanley Picker Gallery, London (2020); While the West Slept, Performa, New York (2019); By All Estimates, Centre For Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney (2019); Paralogical Machines, Wei-Ling Contemporary, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2019); Common Third, Copperfield Gallery, London (2018); This is Water, MIMA, Middlesbrough (2018); The Diaspora Pavilion, Venice Biennale, (2017); Come Cannibalise Us, Why Don’t You, NUS Museum, Singapore (2014). In 2019 Erika was awarded an Artquest ASSIST Award, and the Stanley Picker Fine Art Fellowship at Kingston University.

Fire Station Residency 2001-2005

Acme's residency at the Fire Station is one of the most directly supportive schemes for artists in the United Kingdom, providing combined studio and living space at low rents, as well as a half rent residency for a deaf or disabled artist. This five year fixed-term residency scheme is intended to allow artists more time to concentrate on the development of their work and professional careers, and less time working to survive. 2001-2005 residents were selected by Angela Kingston (curator), David Panton (Co founder of Acme), Damien Robinson (artist and administrator), and Lindsay Seers (artist).