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Vivien Chan

@inoutofpractice.bsky.social
1.2K followers 147 following 66 posts

Sowing seeds 🌱 Making sensations 💫 (Dr, she/they) Design historian, educator, image maker. Hong Kong, design history, material/visual/spatial culture, everyday. @iias.bsky.social Asia in the World Fellow. vivienchan.co.uk

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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Been a little quiet here for a while since I've been on the road! Been based at the French Institute Pondicherry for the last 3months as part of the @iias.bsky.social fellowship. I'll be presenting some research next Monday! All welcome, IRL and online: www.ifpindia.org/monday-collo...
ifpindia.org
[Monday Colloquium] How to Buy a Fish: Bodies and Commodities in Hong Kong’s ‘Wet’ Markets - French Institute Pondicherry ...
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 17/04/2026
"There’s this real sense of connecting a personal, almost existential crisis with the bigger impetus, of using History Workshop, or the reasons for History Workshop, to generate a personal sense of purpose." @inoutofpractice.bsky.social on the founding mission of HWJ.
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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Listen to the poets.
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 29/01/2026
How has the History Workshop Journal collective sustained its commitment to radical history over fifty tumultuous years? Two HWJ veterans, Sally Alexander and Jeffrey Weeks, sat down to share their memories with @beckierutherford.bsky.social and @inoutofpractice.bsky.social🎙✊🏻
historyworkshop.org.uk
Working Collectively Then and Now
How did History Workshop Journal's editorial collective sustain its commitment to radical history over fifty tumultuous years? Sally Alexander and Jeffrey Weeks discuss.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
I recently had the great pleasure to be interviewed by Typesetter, an independent publisher doing incredible work: typesetter.hk/en/2025/12/1...
typesetter.hk
Modular Market, Everyday Experience, and the Movement of Diversified Historiographies—An Interview with Vivien Chan
Editor’s Note: The recent “walking craze” has brought Hong Kong’s public housing estates into the local—and even international—spotlight in a new way, sparking a wave of aesthetic, nostalgic, and hist...
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Somehow still hanging on! All jokes aside, I'm so grateful to my HW and NTU colleagues, and of course my former students, for sharing their insights and getting stuck in. Excited to celebrate HWJ100 with everyone on Saturday!
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 13/01/2026
How has the legacy of History Workshop Journal inspired our own editorial collective? @beckierutherford.bsky.social, @inoutofpractice.bsky.social, and @marralsham.bsky.social consider their historical practice and relationship to radical history.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Radical Synergies
Three of our past and present editors reflect on the ways in which History Workshop Journal has influenced and inspired their practice during their time on the History Workshop collective.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
And that's a wrap! My @historyworkshop.org.uk comes to an end. Two years ends with a grand total of 36 articles, 15 for From Place to Place, and 8 illustration commissions with my students. A huge thank you to the team, I've learned so much about what I want my practice to look like! 💫
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 23/09/2025
The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK & US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these times beyond proof 'we have always been here'? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/queer-histor...
historyworkshop.org.uk
Imagining Trans Futures
Sam Rutherford reflects on how trans histories and historians can work towards building power in the trans community.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
It's a huge honour for this piece by Lola and Agnes to be the final addition to the From Place to Place series. As my HW Fellowship draws to a close, I can't think of a more helpful reminder to keep finding new intimacies and continue feeling through my practice. I hope you've enjoyed the series!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Grateful to Az for coming to us to write this piece. As a V&A/RCA alum and design student myself, reflecting on the process of learning what is 'good' design/history through working with Az helped clarify some of the complex emotions I had visiting the Storehouse!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
🚨HW FELLOWSHIP KLAXON🚨 We're now in the final week for applications, deadline is on Friday! DMs are open for any questions about the position!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
It's a pleasure to include Sabine's research @sabinehanke.bsky.social in the series! The history of the circus, while problematic in contemporary times, is clearly a site where you can find important intersecting identities and frictions.
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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Sometimes the historical dictionary offers solace through the existence of an obsolete word that is sorely needed now. One of them is ‘respair’, recorded just once, in the 15th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Myself and Mary's fellowships are ending in October, and we're now looking for two new fellows! I have had the best time, it's been a brilliant way to transition out of the PhD alongside teaching. It's been a joy to learn from the team and contribute something of my own too! Any questions? DM me!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
I'm so pleased to include Kar Yern in the series, both because we share lots of research interests, and because his research is so dynamic and rich! Keep an eye out for his upcoming book on Malay(si)a Foodways 👀👀👀
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Another in From Place to Place today, and so excited to include sensory histories in this piece by Meg Parsons and Karen Fisher. Thinking about how processes of itinerance have the capacity to be violent, in colonial notions of exploration and transformation.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
I'm so excited to share that from October I will be a fellow at IIAS @iias.bsky.social in Leiden. I'll be working on a project on wetness in spatial histories of Hong Kong and SEA, continuing on from my research on wet markets. Looking forward to exploring NL! www.iias.asia/profile/vivi...
iias.asia
Vivien Chan | IIAS
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Another super exciting one to add to the From Place to Place roster! What if we thought of itinerance through objects? how are histories materialised? So wonderful to work with Hege on this piece!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
A huge honour to have Becky Taylor in From Place to Place, and amazing to see such beautiful and rare archival material alongside her research.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
So happy to be able to commission more design historians to write for HW! As a grassroots archive enthusiast, I was so excited to find out about Elli's collection of garments.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Huge congrats to @maryknewman.bsky.social on her new series on Indigenous histories!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
I had the pleasure of being one of the people Juli would share her insights with while walking around Hong Kong. It sparked lots of conversations about what we can vs. what we choose to call history. Super honoured to share Juli's work in From Place to Place!
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Such an imaginative and exciting piece from @davehitchcock.bsky.social and a significant question about the relationship between itinerance and the making of public spaces - who gets to make it theirs?
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 08/05/2025
How does a public space become a 'begging place'? In our latest article, Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social on the life of Jamaican street sweeper in Regency London, Charles McGee. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/urban/beggin...
historyworkshop.org.uk
Begging Places
How does a public space become a 'begging place'? David Hitchcock on the life of Jamaican street sweeper in Regency London, Charles McGee.
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 21/04/2025
We stand in solidarity with trans women and the trans community and we will always be a space that recognises the importance of trans history. Read on for a selection from our archive 🧵 1/8
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Sooz Kempner @soozuk.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
There isn't a story on the BBC News site about today's trans rights rally at Parliament Square where it's estimated 20k attended. But they did have a story last week about the Let Women Speak transphobe rally in Bristol where 100 people attended.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Another piece for From Place to Place today! Anitha was so generous with me when I was in Surabaya for a conference late last year, and knows so much about her city. She took me around so many places, and at every corner was something and someone she knew. Such a gift to have her on board!
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 10/04/2025
What histories are we missing when places operate in unofficial and responsive ways? Anitha Silvia on the on-going histories of Surabaya's street markets, and how to archive as history unfolds on the street: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/public-histo...
historyworkshop.org.uk
Mapping Surabaya's Street Markets
Anitha Silvia explores the intricate histories found in mapping the informal street markets of Surabaya.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Really excited to have Felicity involved in the series, thinking about precarity and romanticism, the reality vs. fantasies in narratives of women's histories. Also seems fitting now the flowers are all coming up for springgggg 💐
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Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
A haiku for the Reading Room users: window is damaged therefore does not work. yet I, also damaged, do.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
I've always greatly admired independent history practitioners who have found ways to share old stories in new ways with the public. Feels very special to get to feature some of their work as part of the series!
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 18/03/2025
One from our Radical Objects series suggested by Vivien (@inoutofpractice.bsky.social) Ulrike Wöhr unpacks this image of Hiro Sumpter and what it reveals about the politics of race within feminist and anti-nuclear power activism.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Radical Objects: A Photo of Hiro Sumpter
Ulrike Wöhr Greenham unpacks this photo of Hiro Sumpter, and what it reveals about the politics of race and ethnicity at the Royal Air Force Greenham Common airbase in Berkshire, UK.
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 13/03/2025
This article launches a new series on "History & Higher Education in Crisis" We are inviting articles on: 🎓 the history & origins of this crisis 🔮 its impact on research, methodologies, specialisms & teaching ✊ building solidarities & collective action www.historyworkshop.org.uk/contribute/
historyworkshop.org.uk
Contribute
Interested in publishing an article or podcast with History Workshop? Find out how to contribute to our digital magazine of radical history.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
A brilliant piece and for an ECR what is hopeful is the passion of my colleagues who can be both realistic and supportive, and believe in the root essence of university as a site for knowledge exchange and collaboration.
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 13/03/2025
UK universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system. www.historyworkshop....
historyworkshop.org.uk
A Decade of Crisis
The UK's universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be understood as an interdependent system.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The third piece for the series, how listening is hard work, is fulfilling, is radical in the research process. If listening was as important as speaking/reading in research, we'd be in a different place. It was so wonderful to work with Zarna, a fellow design historian!
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 06/03/2025
Donald Trump's January 20th Executive Order is a harmful attack on queer and transgender healthcare education, but it will be resisted. Lucy Kelly turns to the legacy of queer activists and allies in the struggle for AIDS education in the 1980-90s. www.historyworkshop....
historyworkshop.org.uk
Queer Activists and the Struggle for AIDS Education
Donald Trump's January 20th Executive Order is a harmful attack on queer and transgender healthcare education, but it will be resisted. Lucy Kelly turns to the legacy of queer activists and allies in the struggle for AIDS education in the…
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Such a profound and hopeful evening listening to @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social @ogoegbunam.bsky.social on Tao's new book Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean and the origins of the climate crisis. Had me thinking so much about itinerance (coral spores, mongoose etc) as well as more on water 🌊
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
OV: "This is why I chose the novel as the form for this project. I wanted the book to be founded in truth but realized by the imagination. I wanted to begin as a historian and end as an artist. And I needed the novel to be a praxis toward that reckoning."
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
An incredibly timely and important read.
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Lieke Smits @elckerlieke.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
"We experience an object in our ‘here and now’, while understanding it to be from the past. This tension is seldom expressed in history-writing, which has a tendency to be linear and episodic, with actions and actors kept to an allotted historical moment."
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
As a lecturer in Illustration, and a lover of print and self-publishing, I've been a huge fan of Esther's for a while now. Our conversation when commissioning this piece is what inspired me to think about itinerance as time-travel!
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Susan Marie Swanson @susanmarieswanson.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
I think about this every day. The whole thread (and article) are worth reading. But the part quoted here--something like it--has been on my mind all the time lately. And: how they teach incuriosity to others, how they exploit ignorance, how they demand lack of imagination, encourage lack of care.
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
The first of the series is out! Odila's piece on Beijing peddler calls and how heritagisation takes street life to a different place... can you really capture a sound mark? What gets lost in the end when you try?
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
First article in the series is out tomorrow morning! You can read the intro to From Place to Place here: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/public-space...
historyworkshop.org.uk
From Place to Place
What radical histories can be found in 'working and wandering'? Vivien Chan introduces a new History Workshop series on itinerant histories.
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Adam @onperambulation.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
"Speculative histories are becoming increasingly important in the face of archival absences or inaccessibility to institutions, but also in response to the uncertainties of the climate crisis and the safety of such histories in political crises." I've been thinking a lot recently about the 🧵(1/?)
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Vivien Chan @inoutofpractice.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
It's a big day! This intro took a while to put together, a lot of ideas, and lots of thoughts on itinerance while 'wandering and working' in some ways myself... plus I realise definitions are difficult and scary! I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! DMs are open!
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
I'd heard mention of Barchives, but I somehow missed the fact that it's a amazing, long-running series that involves meeting with archivists in bars across NYC. I regret missing so many of these! barchivesnyc.wordpress.com
A screenshot of the Barchives website -- orange background, event series logo (the word "Barchives" forming the facade of a wooden bar), plus two posters for two recent events -- an upcoming event on "Spirits and Relics" and a recently past event on "Wings, Whales and Neighborhood Tales"
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