Trained as an architect, Ling Tan is an award-winning designer, artist, creative technologist known for her work on social engagement & technology, urban data science and environmental politics. Her practice explores systemic urban issues and ways that people interact with each other and their built environments through technology. It focuses on people’s collective agency and responsibility in tackling complex issues surrounding our cities, using technology as a catalyst for dialogue and action. She co-founded HAQUE TAN, a design studio combining the scale of architecture with the ingenuity of art and the eccentricities of technology, to make spaces more democratic, inclusive and culturally-driven.
Ling works with diverse communities across the UK and internationally to develop participatory projects of different scales, ranging from interactive installations, performances to architectural scale interventions that help them make sense of their environments, express opinions in a playful and performative way, and collectively address issues including public safety, air quality, climate change and gender safety. She designs interfaces, fabricates hardware and develops software for her work, ranging from wearable technology, interactive installations and performances to web platforms, mobile phone apps and Internet of Things (IoT) tools.
Ling’s expertise spans multiple disciplines, from architecture and design to data science and social policy. She has received the STRP Act Award 2024 , Seoul Design Finalist Award 2023, Asia Digital Art Finalist Award Fukuoka and multiple S+T+ARTS Prize Nominations. Her work is exhibited internationally in festivals and museums such as Centre Pompidou (France), V&A, Barbican, Somerset House, Manchester Museum (UK), STRP Festival (Netherlands), Ars Electronica (Austria), HeK (Switzerland), Liljevalchs (Sweden), Zebrastraat (Belgium), Zollverein(Germany), Fukuoka City Science Museum (Japan), Wits Art Museum (South Africa), and featured in magazines and websites across the globe such as Dezeen, Wired and Fast Company.
Ling is also Creative Director at urban technology studio Umbrellium and a Design Council Expert. She was previously Associate Artistic Director at Kakilang, where she curated the critically acclaimed State-less, and is a frequent public speaker, helping shape discourse on diversity, participation, urban technology and citizen empowerment.
