Kelly Tsai

A series of constructed persona portrait diptychs using digital photography and text to explore intriguing women of the Chinese diaspora.

The goal of the project is neither to highlight heroes nor historical figures, but rather to embody and reinterpret complicated Chinese women who never fit easily into categorization, expectation, or known precedents.

The inspiration for this series came during the pandemic as a means of seeking how wildly unique women of Chinese descent have navigated worlds that possessed no space for them to be their full autonomous selves. For gallery, click here. For “SKyGiRLS” Artist Statement, click here.

A collaboration with interdisciplinary artist Olga Mezhibovskaya and her typography students at the School of Visual Arts. The typography students re-envisioned their favorite poems of Kelly’s for public space in a long scroll format as a reference to traditional Chinese scroll paintings. For gallery, click here.

Artists: Dino, Hansol Park, Jane Mao, Jieui Kim, Phoebe Look, Yuwen Suo, WonJun Choi, Zitong Zheng, Kejun Zhang, Ruthann Xu, Ruotong, Xilu Cheng, Yiran Sun, Youer Zhao, Yue Zhu, Zedan Peng

A commissioned suite of eight poems inspired by the life and work of Andy Warhol and the poetry created during the Factory era by Gerald Malanga and John Giorno.

Presented at Fotografiska NYC at the closing of the “Andy Warhol: Photo Factory” exhibit.

Poems (Click on Title):

A Sweet Earthquake

Screen Test

Shape of the Angel

A site-specific contemporary dance.

Structured improvisation exploring relationship between inner and outer world, human and divine.

Presented at Abrons Arts Center.

Choreography, Performance, & Sound Design by Kelly Tsai.

A site-specific socially distanced contemporary dance.

Structured improvisation exploring the visceral nature of trust and relationship.

Presented at Abrons Arts Center, LES Dance Crawl.

Choreography, Performance, & Sound Design by Kelly Tsai.

A dance / music short film honoring the lives of the six women slain at Young's Asian Massage Parlor.

Presented at Asian American Writer's Workshop “Women Warriors,” AWGC Virtual Gala, BRIC Arts Media Artist Talk, and CreateART Dance Film Nights.

Choreography, Performance, Sound Design, & Film by Kelly Tsai.

A prototype for a VR retelling of Andy Weir's popular short story, "The Egg," exploring themes of life, death, reincarnation, and how they are connected.

Developed via 5th Wall Forum Connectors Program for creative technologists and immersive theater artists.

Creative Team: Jesse Carrey, Douglas Jay Goldstein, Stan Mathabane, Adam Rei Siegel, Mary Stewart-David, Kelly Tsai

For more info and demo video: https://theeggvr.carrd.co

A pandemic-era series of creative prompts to provide tools to transform forced isolation into meaningful self-reflection.

The original prompts were published on social media six times per week. The seventy-one prompts and an additional one hundred prompts were added to a freely distributed Google doc. For the Google doc, click here.

The visual design of the posts uses abstract fractals and colors from nature, grounding the desire to reunify with something larger. For gallery, click here.

For Kelly’s essay about #CreativeQuarantine and artistic process during the pandemic, click here.

Spoken word theater about three fictional Asian American women in New York City a decade after 9/11. With choral poems, prayers, activist folk songs, and raps, the play weaves together the characters’ struggles with survivorship and faith and their intimate relationships with Mary Magdalene, Guan Yin, and Aisha.

To watch full play online, click here. 
To download PDF script for free, click here. 

Produced by Asian American Arts Alliance / Flushing Town Hall, Poetic License Theater Festival, Hip Hop Theater Festival DC, Rising Circle PlayRISE on Theater Row, HERE, & UC-Santa Cruz Rainbow Theater. 

Colorlines: 'Say You Heard My Echo' Follows Lives in the Shadows of 9/11 (Jamilah King) 
New York Daily News: Kelly Tsai's 'Say You Heard My Echo' speaks to post-9/11 NYC (Joyce Chen) 
NY1: Serious themes 'echo' in Flushing (Michelle Park)
Our Chinatown: Say You Heard My Echo: Exploring Post-9/11 Politics in Poetry & Prayer (Melody Ju) 
Stagebuzz: Interview with Kelly Tsai (Byrne Harrison)
 

360° digital short film based on a spoken word poem which flips power on its head and envisions what the world would be like if it was run by five foot two tattooed Asian females. (Color, Running Time: 4 Min.)

To watch full short online, click here.

Solo show inspired by the history of Barbie doll manufacturing in Taiwan and larger themes of beauty, body, labor, media, technology, and culture.

Half of all the world's Barbie dolls from 1967-1987 were manufactured in Taishan, a small town in the northern region of Taiwan.

Developed and produced by New York Live Arts Studio Series, Hip Hop Theater Festival / El Museo Del Barrio, Illinois Humanities Council / Experimental Station, Ars Nova ANT Fest, Columbia College Chicago, Culture Project, University of Connecticut, Downtown Urban Theater Festival, Rising Circle Q Up, Apollo Theater / Southbank Centre London WOW Festival. 

Multimedia performance project exploring Chinese political artist Ai Wei Wei's childhood in exile, early formative years in New York City (1981-1993), his rise to global prominence as a dissident and his relationship to political poetry via his father, poet Ai Qing, and Allen Ginsberg. Produced by Brooklyn Museum of Art. 

To watch full play online, click here. 
To download PDF script for free, click here.

Howlround: Devising Ai Weiwei: The Seed for Brooklyn Museum: Techniques & Process (Kelly Tsai) 
Apogee Journal: Ai Wei Wei in New York City: An Interview with Kelly Tsai (Melody Nixon) 
Asian American Writers' Workshop: Studio Visit: Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (Ryan Wong)  
Colorlines: Asian American Artists Celebrate Ai Wei Wei's NYC Roots (Jamilah King) 
Huffington Post: Beyond Exotic: Asian American Artists Retell Ai Wei Wei's Story (Sahra Vang Nguyen)
NBC News: Chinese-American Artists Celebrate Early Years of Ai Wei Wei (Ruby Veridiano)
Opening Ceremony New News: The Artist Currently Known as Ai Wei Wei (Jessica Chou)

Multimedia performance project exploring Brooklyn 300 years into the future with live performance, spoken word, video, audio visualization, and electronic music. Produced by BRIC Arts Media Stoop Series, Brooklyn, New York.