Asia Art Archive (AAA) has launched a new series of education resources online for all kinds of educators — Artist Exercises with the theme of “Learning at Home”, supporting boundless circulation of knowledge, and reexamining the role of art during school suspension in this challenging time.

These home-based Artist Exercises are initially designed to inspire secondary school teachers with different ways of teaching contemporary art beyond the curriculum, have now also become practical for homeschooling. Started off with contributions by local artists-educators Law Yuk Mui, Lo Lai Lai, Tozer Pak Sheung Chuen, Beatrix Pang Sin Kwok, Tang Kwok Hin, and Kith Tsang Tak Ping, the exercises aim to encourage teachers, students, and the general public to reflect upon their experience after the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year, including the relevant social issues, and the purpose of art in times of emergency in the local environment. The artists explore topics include personal expression, physical distancing, relationships, interpersonal communication, and food supply through creative approaches.

In light of the recent pandemic situation, AAA has decided to enrich the Learning at Home series by collaborating with international artists. We have invited art practitioners Chang Yuchen, Nilanjana Nandy, Christian Nyampetav, Mariam Ghani, Sanchayan Ghosh, and Hồng-An Trương to join and create more exercises, bringing in different perspectives and methods to respond to this unusual time while reimagining the roles of art amid the pandemic and global lockdown using their own experience. These art practitioners of different backgrounds and practice will contribute exercises that rethink topics such as time, public space, hygiene, individuality, community, and empathy.

All six exercises by Hong Kong based artists-educators are now available on AAA’s website for exploration, other six exercises by international art practitioners will be fully launched by June.
Images can be downloaded here: https://bit.ly/2IZ6X15

The new series is initiated by AAA Learning and Participation (L&P), who strives to fill in the gap of the lack of contemporary art teaching materials in secondary education in Hong Kong, and has been working closely with teachers and artists to investigate art as a learning tool.