Erika Tan : Pidgin

Erika Tan is a British-based artist and curator from Singapore whose work has evolved from an interest in anthropology and the moving image. Her work is often informed by specific cultural, geographical or physical contexts, exploring different media to create situations that excite, provoke, question, confront and invite comments from an audience. Erika Tan exhibited as part of EAST 2000 at Norwich Gallery, and her work was included in Cities on the Move at The Hayward Gallery. She has exhibited both in the UK and abroad. The forthcoming catalogue records previous projects the artist has undertaken and acts as an expansion of the ideas triggered by PIDGIN through conversations with Simon Wilmoth, Norwich School of Art and Design and Dr. Nikos Papastergiadis, Head of Centre for Ideas, VCA, University of Melbourne.

pidgin [pij´in] 1. a minimal second language that is a combination of the vocabulary and pronunciation patterns of two or more languages, created when groups speaking mutually unintelligible languages have a need to communicate, as for trade or negotiations; grammatically, it usually is a simplified form of one of the languages. 2. loosely, any simplified or abridged form of a language used by non-native speakers. (Said to be from a Chinese mispronunciation of the word business within early Chinese Treaty ports.)

Erika Tan
Pidgin