LIEN FAN SHEN portrait
  • Assistant Professor, Film & Media Arts Department
  • Associate Professor, Film & Media Arts Department
801-585-7673

Research Keywords

  • Japanese anime, Animation theory, Animation production, Digital Media

Creative Research

  • Seeing Through the Eyes of Crocodiles, animated short screening in Midnight Rainbow: Chinese Queer Film, Bi’Bak, Berlin Media Arts, completed 04/25/2019.
  • Seeing Through the Eyes of Crocodiles, animated short screening in The Boston LGBT Film Festival Media Arts, completed 04/2017.
  • Seeing Through the Eyes of Crocodiles, animated short screening in TWIST Seattle Queer Film Festival Media Arts, completed 10/16/2016.
  • Seeing Through the Eyes of Crocodiles, animated short screening in Shanghai Pride Film Festival, winner for the Best Editing Award (director and editor: Lien Fan Shen) Media Arts, completed 06/17/2016.
  • Seeing Through the Eyes of Crocodiles, animated short screening in the Eighth Beijing Queer Film Festival, Beijing, China Media Arts, completed 10/2015.
  • (Re)visualizing Femininity/Masculinity, manga exhibition and public lecture at Leiden’s Honours Academy, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands Exhibition, completed 06/2014.
  • Animation-based Depression Evaluation (AIDE) Application on Touch Screen Devices: An instrument to evaluate depressive symptoms in persons with intellectual disability Media Arts Media Arts, in progress 01/10/2014.
  • Hao: An Animated Documentary about Female Masculinity in Taiwan. Media Arts, in progress 05/05/2013.
  • Stage animation for Green Map Project in Repertory Dance Theater. Performance, completed 04/2011.
  • Ghost Interruption (revised), digital performing art, Art Access Gallery Media Arts, completed 05/21/2010.
  • Ghost Interruption (revised), digital performing art, Art in Motion Media Arts, completed 05/05/2010.
  • Ghost Interruption, an interdisciplinary digital media performance that combines real-time animated images and modern dance. Media Arts, in progress 05/02/2009.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZqhbr0vWFk
  • Thaw, digital art performance, Performance Dance Company, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT Media Arts, completed 2008.
  • Trilogy (destruction/reconstruction/documents), multimedia installation in C02 Taiwan Avant-Grade Documenta Exhibition, completed 11/2002.
  • Reconstruction, multimedia installation in SIGGRAPH Art Gallery Exhibition, completed 08/2002.
  • Reconstruction, digital video screened in New Jersey State Film Festival Media Arts, completed 02/2001.

Presentations

  • “Bai-he-man-hwa, a juncture of queer identity politics and globalization,” In Queer Asia as Method: Roundtable and Townhall at King’s College London and online . Conference Paper, Presented, 09/2021.
    https://queerasia.com/qamethod2021/
  • “Animated discursive practices in Taiwan Bar and Year Hare Affair: A comparative study on online animations in Taiwan and China, Association for Chinese Animation Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Invited Talk/Keynote, Other, 05/12/2021.
  • An expended dimension in 3D animation creative processes: New paradigm or paradox when utilizing 3D virtual painting and animating tools? in Conference of Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Denver. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2021.
  • “Transnationality and Chinese Nationalism of Animation Signifiers in Year Hare Affair” in the panel Patriotism as a Business: The Production and Consumption of Nationalism in China at the Annual Conference of The Association for Asian Studies, Denver. Conference Paper, Accepted, 03/24/2019.
  • "Animating intertextuality of yuri in Yurikuma Arashi” in Kumoricon Anime and Manga Studies Conference. Conference Paper, Presented, 10/26/2018.
  • Yuri as a Brand to Sell Adorable Monsters and Cute Queer Girls?: Animating Sexy, Cool, and Pretty in Japanese Lesbian-themed Anime in the Conference Media Industries: Current Debates and Future Directions . Conference Paper, Presented, 04/19/2018.
  • "Animated questions for assessing depressive symptoms in people with intellectual disabilities," co-authored with Jia-Wen Guo, Deborah Bilder, Marge Pett, Erin Johnson, Beth Cardell, Matt Jameson " . Conference Paper, Presented, 06/2017.
  • “Queer otaku? Representation of female sexuality, bodies, and pleasure in Genshiken Nidaime,” in the Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies, Seattle, WA. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/11/2016.
  • “What is T? (Re)visualizing female masculinity in Taiwan,” in the Conference Representations and Self-Representation of Queers in East Asia, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2015.
  • “The politics of animated bodies: Body, pleasure, and class struggles in Japanese anime Attack on Titan,” in Conference of Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Montreal, CA. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2015.
  • “Otaku characters in anime: Representation of anime fans’ desire, fantasy, and self-commodification,” in Conference of Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Seattle WA. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2014.
  • LIEN FAN SHEN (2014) Anime and Manga: A Cultural Perspective. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2014.
  • "The hysterical subject of shōjo: the dark, twisted heroines in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Puella Magi Madoka Magica" in Academic Symposium in Anime Expo 2013, Los Angles. Presentation, Presented, 07/2013.
  • “Collaborative and collective creativity in animation and videogame production,” Department of Art Industry at National Taitung University, Taiwan. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2013.
  • LIEN FAN SHEN (2013) The hysterical subject of shōjo: the dark, twisted heroines in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2013.
  • LIEN FAN SHEN (2013) Collaborative and collective creativity in animation and videogame production. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2013.
  • "The hysterical subject of shōjo: the dark, twisted heroines in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Puella Magi Madoka Magica" in A Comic of Her Own: Women Writing, Reading, and Embodying in Comic, the 10th Annual University of Florida Comic Conference in association with ImageText. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2013.
  • “Otaku characters in anime: Representation of otaku’s desire, fantasy, and self-commodification” paper presentation in 3rd Mechademia Conference on Anime, Manga, and Media Theory from Japan, Seoul. Conference Paper, Presented, 12/29/2012.
  • "What anime is... and what anime can teach media educators about the politics of viewing?" in Japan Studies Association, Eighteenth Annual Conference. Conference Paper, Presented, 01/2012.
  • An artist perspective of queer manga in the 1990s Taiwan at University of Chicago . Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2012.
  • Teaching computer animation in the context of postmodern condition, invited talk at The Graduate Institute of Art Education at National Changhua University . Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2011.
  • Animation aesthetics and criticism, invited talk/workshop in the Graduate Institute of Children's Literature at National Taitung University. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2011.
  • "Ghost Interruption: Collaborative problem solving" in Technical Sketches and Posters Program and Multimedia Program in SIGGRAPH ASIA 2010 . Presentation, Presented, 12/2010.
  • Artist talk in Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 2,. Presentation, Presented, 10/08/2010.
    http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/salt-lake-city/
  • Reflection after ten years: An artist perspective on queer manga in Taiwan in San Diego Comic Con and San Francisco Wonder Con . Conference Paper, Presented, 08/2010.
  • Ghost Interruption in SIGGRAPH Asia Art Gallery, 2009 . Other, Accepted, 10/2009.
  • “Reflections after ten years: An artist perspective on queer manga in Taiwan,” an artist workshop in Japanese Transnational Fandom Workshop at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Conference Paper, Presented, 06/2008.
  • “Beyond theory: Interdisciplinarity of job search and teaching practice in higher education,” paper presentation the conference of National Art Education Association, New Orleans, LA. Conference Paper, Presented, 2008.
  • “The survival kit of the first year teaching for international graduates: Some pitfalls and uphill strategies,” in the conference of National Art Education Association, New Orleans, LA. Conference Paper, Presented, 2008.
  • “Foucault‘s pleasure, transgression, and Revolutionary Girl Utena,” paper presentation in the conference of Popular Culture and American Culture Association, San Francisco, CA. Conference Paper, Presented, 2008.
  • The origin of Japanese anime and Ozamu Tezuka: An introduction to Tezuka's Space Firebird, invited talk in the Museum of Art at Ball State University . Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 09/2006.

Research Groups

  • Consortium for Research on China and Asia, Research Professor. 08/2012 - present.

Grants, Contracts & Research Gifts

  • Faculty writing retreat . PI: Lien Fan Shen . Co-PI(s): Chris Lippard, Sarah Sinwell, Jennifer Weber, and Jane Hatter. College of Fine Arts Research in Progress Grant, 12/31/2016 - 07/2017. Total project budget to date: $4,140.00
  • The Floating Utah: Utilizing 3D technology to create ukiyo-e style prints of Utah polluted landscapes. PI: Lien Fan Shen. University Creative and Research Grant , 12/30/2016 - 12/30/2018. Total project budget to date: $6,000.00

Geographical Regions of Interest

  • Eastern Asia

Publications

  • Lien Fan Shen & Cris Mayo (2021). Gender and Sexuality in Taiwan Schools. Oxford University Press. Published, 08/2021.
  • Lien Fan Shen (2021). The 21st Century Girls and Their Romance (5-episode online graphic novel). Creative Comic Collection. Accepted, 03/01/2021.
  • Lien Fan Shen (2021). I Will Be Your Paradise (14-episode online graphic novel). Creative Comic Collection. Published, 01/2021.
    https://www.creative-comic.tw/book/102/content
  • Shen, Lien Fan (2018). Taiwan Bar, a YouTube Animation Series About Taiwan’s Histories. Animation Studies 2.0. Published, 04/30/2018.
    https://blog.animationstudies.org/?p=2471#comment-...
  • "Traversing Otaku Fantasy: Representation of the Otaku Subject, Gaze, and Fantasy in Otaku no Video,” in Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan. Galbraith, Patrick, Kam, Thiam Huat, Kamm, Bjorn-Ole (Eds.). Bloomsbury Academic. Published, 05/21/2015.
  • “The hysterical subject of shojo: The dark, twisted heroines in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Puella Magi Madoka Magica” in Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture. Jones, Norma, Bajac-Carter, Maja, and Batchelor, Bob (Eds.) Rowman and Littlefield Press. Published, 04/04/2014.
  • What is computer animation? Examining technological advancements and cultural aesthetics of Japanese animation, in ACM SIGGRAPH 2007. Published, 08/2007.
  • Anime pleasure as a playground of sexuality, power, and resistance in Mit5. Published, 04/2007.
  • "Anime" in Contemporary Youth Culture. Published, 07/2006.
  • Shen, Lien Fan (2002). Clair de Lune (graphic novel, vol. 2). Tong-li Publishing Company. Published, 09/2002.
  • Shen, Lien Fan (2001). Clair de Lune (graphic novel, vol. 1). Tong-li Publishing Company. Published, 09/2001.
  • Shen, Lien Fan (1998). I will be your paradise (graphic novel, vol. 2). Tong-li Publishing Company. Published, 06/1998.
  • Shen, Lien Fan (1997). I will be your paradise (graphic novel, vol. 1). Tong-li Publishing Company. Published, 06/1997.
  • Shen, Lien Fan (1996). Let's fall in love. Tong-li Publishing Company. Published, 09/1996.