黌：藝術學院畢業作品選
參展藝術家：陳港怡、張亦勤、徐學賢
日期：3/9-29/10/2019
地點：香港藝術中心地下至四樓賽馬會展廊
策展人之話
黌：藝術學院畢業作品選
古代稱學校為「黌」，例如《後漢書》的〈仇覽傳〉：「農事既畢，乃令子弟群居，還就黌學」。這裡我們借用了來比喻學院式的藝術教育。
學院化是當代藝術發展的基本方向：無論是視藝、演藝、音樂或者文學，現時活躍的作者們幾乎全部都是學院畢業生，有些更是取得了碩士或博士學位。今天先進的社會都崇尚知識，當代藝術的學院化可以說是正常而且必然的趨勢。
學院式藝術的最大特色就是系統式的訓練：這絕對不是填鴨式的強制依樣畫葫蘆，而是在培育藝術技巧的同時，介紹批判思維、藝術形式探討、跨媒體的試驗、藝術歷史、藝術與社會的關係、專業實習等等的課題，為學員提供一套又一套的知識、理論和實踐。英國學者域陀˙貝爾根(Victor Burgin)在1982年時就提出了「啟發式」(heuristic)的教育理念：「目標是向學員提供廣闊範圍的資訊，以及多種明辨批判的工具，從而使他們增加識見能力，發展出獨立的思想。」
今次展出的三個攝影系列，都是香港藝術學院與澳洲皇家墨爾本理工大學合辦的藝術文學士課程最近兩年的畢業作品。三位畢業生都是主修攝影的，他們關注的課題有社會性、地區性以及概念性，但都可以看到細密的思考推敲和進取的形式探索，以及二者(題材與風格)之間的有機結合：為要表達人生的無常，陳港怡請觀眾賭一賭他們會看到什麼；張亦勤一直關心他生長的土瓜灣區，於是用了不同的窗子去意味該地的歷史與未來；徐學賢遞減著穿著制服的人數，讓大家一起思考上班的道理。
黎健強
香港藝術學院高級講師兼學科統籌(攝影)
From the Art School -- Selected Graduate Works
Artist: CHAN Kong Yi Polly, CHEUNG Yick Kan, TSUI Hok In Jason
Date: 3/9-29/10/2019
Venue: Jockey Club Atrium, G/F-4/F, Hong Kong Arts Centre
Curatorial Statement
From the Art School: Selected Graduate Works
Academic training is the general tendency of contemporary art: most artists active today ─ visual arts, performance arts, music or literature ─ have received formal education in arts, some even have obtained postgraduate degrees. In a world in which knowledge is highly esteemed, it is necessary that contemporary art develop along with the growth of art academies.
The most prominent feature of formal art education is systematic training. This must not be mistaken for spoon-feeding or imitations. Rather, students will be introduced to many diverse theories and methodologies besides their training in artistic skills and techniques, including critical thinking, formal and stylistic experimentations, inter-disciplinary strategies, art history, social studies, professional practices, and so on. English scholar Victor Burgin put forward the concept of 'heuristic' education in 1982, aiming "to provide the student with a wide range of facts, and a number of critical tools, in the interests of developing an informed capacity for independent thought."
Here we showcase three graduate projects by artists who have studied the BAFA programme jointly offered by the Hong Kong Art School and RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. All three alumni have studied photography as their major, but the themes they explore are varied, touching on issues that are social, regional and conceptual. What they have in common is the criticality of their thinking process, and the readiness of their stylistic explorations. For the purpose of showing the uncertainties in life, Polly Chan Kong Yi invites the viewers to take a gamble on what they will see; Cheung Yick Kan has a life-long interest in To Kwa Wan where he is born and grew up, in his photographs he uses the 'window' as his metaphor to talk about the past and the future of the district; finally, Jason Tsui Hok In is showing fewer and fewer uniformed workers in his sequence, and asks us to rethink the meaning of 'going to work'.
Edwin K. Lai
Senior Lecturer and Subject Coordinator (Photography)
Hong Kong Art School
