Chensy Guan

Biography

My practice-based research defines and investigates “plastic anxiety”: a social condition shaped by the environmental and psychological pressures of plastic waste generated by the fashion industry. Working with participatory performance and artistic interventions, including garment-making, design activism, and video essays, I explore how immersive and collective encounters can reshape perceptions and behaviours around fashion-related plastic waste.
Grounded in new materialist thinking and performance methodologies such as Theatre of the Oppressed, my research develops interdisciplinary, action-oriented approaches to environmental education. Through collaborations and participatory action research, I aim to produce an educational performance toolkit that supports college-level teaching, strengthens ecological citizenship, and connects local learning contexts to forms of global action.
A key body of my work is centred around the materiality of plastic, encompassing concepts of plasticity and Plastic Anxiety. Bye Bye Black Bird, a participatory funeral performance at the Royal College of Art, responded to the death of a bird caused by plastic ingestion, using ritual and performance to explore care, responsibility, and environmental loss. Earlier, The Three Exhibitions (2021), presented at Chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, transformed recycled plastics into fashion photography and sculptural garments, critically examining the aesthetics of waste, luxury, and consumption. Alongside this work, my practice engages with spectacle, popular culture, and institutional contexts. I co-directed the fashion film Industrial Revolution, selected for both the BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival and the London Short Film Festival, and developed commissioned performances for the British Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts.