What are your areas of concentration/study?
Craft/Material Studies, Asian/Diasporic Studies, etc.
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Jen Chen-su Huang is a weaver and writer. She received her M.F.A. in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently teaches at Parsons School of Design and is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at NYU. Her creative work has been supported by the Fulbright Commission and the Luminarts Cultural Foundation, among others. She enjoys making things with yarn and thread, drawing, reading, and sipping on hot soup.
"I took an art history class where we read Cruising Utopia by José Muñoz, and I remember finding his writing to be totally captivating in contrast to the other art history texts I had read. Muñoz was my initial entry into the field of Performance Studies, but back then, I never imagined then that I would pursue a PhD. During the height of the pandemic, I reconnected with my mentors from art school, who encouraged me to consider applying for PS @ NYU. I think this careful attention to everyday life is what attracted me to PS, and an openness to alternative, practice-based research is what encouraged me to stay." - Jen Chen-su Huang
What has been a stand out moment during your time at PS so Far?
This was not something that happened in class, but my dear friend Holly Taylor and I collaborated on a workshop for the annual PS Praxis event in 2022, which we called the Sock Network. Patching together a collection of donated hole-y socks, we made dance accoutrements that enabled participants to be connected at the feet. The result was a delightful afternoon of play. Our classmates took the socks beyond the limits of our imagination––weaving together a stretchy network to hold one another, using the socks to make a giant jump rope, etc. I suppose this did originate in a PS class though. In André Lepecki’s class, while we were discussing Lygia Clark’s work, I began sketching these sock mechanisms in my notebook, and Holly, who sat next to me, happened to see my doodles. When class ended that day, we discussed what became the Sock Network.
What are some of your favorite spots around campus and NYC?
I’m a sucker for used bookshops, which NYC has an abundance of. Strand and Mercer Street Books are close to campus, but my favorite is probably Topos, which I’m grateful to live nearby.
What extracurriculars are you involved in?
I’m a member of the Brooklyn Lace Guild. While I am still relatively new to lacemaking, I’ve hosted cyanotype (an early photographic method used to share lace patterns) workshops through the organization. It’s a wonderful community of fiber folks. In addition to making things, I also love practicing yoga, aerial silks, slack-lining, and climbing.
What has been your favorite PS class so far?
I loved taking Barbara Browning’s class on craft. It was an amazing experiment that looped practice and theory. Our classroom was filled with craft supplies, and discussions became more conversational as our fingers worked through fiber. Everyday anecdotes became enmeshed with ideas from our readings, making especially tangible how the personal is political. My favorite class to teach, or TA rather, is MA Projects during the summer. It’s such an amazingly compact and collaborative period, where you witness students develop an idea from infancy to polished thesis.
What are some of your recent publications/ papers presented at conferences?
2024 “Cross/Twist/Loop: Lace and Other Entanglements.” The Aesthetics of Race: Affects and Embodiments in Performance. Department of Performance Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
2024 “Tilling the Ground.” (un)Making. Tisch Center for Research, New York University, New York.
2023 “looping events, s(tr)ung through prayer.” Text & Techne. Trinity College Dublin, Virtual Conference.
2022 Textile and Dyes as Transnational, Global Knowledge. International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, Netherlands.
What teaching/work opportunities have you had on campus or in NYC?
When I first moved to New York in 2021, I started working part-time with the Accessibility department at the library on campus. It was a great gig that allowed me to familiarize myself with the many resources available through the library, and I continued working there until I began teaching in the Textiles program at Parsons in 2023. In addition to teaching at NYU and the New School, I also work as a freelance artist, writer, and editor.
Awards/ Fellowships/ Grants
Global Research Initiative Graduate Fellowship in Shanghai - New York University, 2025
Performance Studies Research Travel Grant - New York University, 2024
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - Alumni Grant Recipient, 2024
Project Grant Recipient - Luminarts Cultural Foundation, 2023
Tisch Creative Research Grant - Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 2022