Artists often work under the pressure of production modes in contemporary art that emphasise end products, speed, deadlines, and individual success. How does working together circumvent these pressures, or fail to do so? What can art collectives do that individual artists alone cannot?
Co-presented by Asia Art Archive (AAA) and Goethe-Institut Hongkong, Collective School x Collective Failure brings together a group of Hong Kong–based artists, curators, and educators to discuss these questions and reflect on documenta fifteen, initiated by Jakarta-based collective ruangrupa and organised around the concept of lumbung (“rice barn”), which refers to collectivity and resource distribution. This event is organised in conjunction with The Collective School at AAA and The Collective Failure at Goethe-Institut Hongkong.
*Please register separately for both talks.
Talk #1: Collective Dilemmas
2:30–4:30pm
The first talk invites artists May Fung and Tang Kwok Hin to discuss ideas of collaboration, collectivity, and failure in the context of Hong Kong, as well as different ways to translate their experience of documenta fifteen into an art practice. May Fung speaks about her insights running the Foo Tak Building in Hong Kong, where artists and collectives with similar urgencies share spaces and resources. Tang Kwok Hin focuses on his learning through 1983, a gathering space for artists and thinkers, which he transformed from his ancestral home in an 800-year-old village.
Speakers:
May Fung, Art and Culture Outreach
Tang Kwok Hin, 1983
Moderators:
Özge Ersoy, AAA
Yang Yeung, art writer
Talk #2: Harvesting from documenta fifteen
5–6:30pm
This conversation brings together eight Hong Kong–based artists, curators, and educators who participated in documenta fifteen in different capacities, including members of the lumbung community, educators-in-residence, and research fellows. The speakers share their learning experiences and reflections on documenta fifteen, especially its working models and programmes.
Speakers:
Dory Cheng and John Chow, Floating Projects
Vennes Cheng, Research Fellow of Goethe-Institut, documenta Institut, and documenta archiv (2021)
Özge Ersoy, AAA
Yim Sui Fong, Rooftop Institute
Tang Kwok Hin, 1983
Moderators:
Susanna Chung, AAA
May Fung, Art and Culture Outreach
The Collective School is generously supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, as well as Wendy Lee & Stephen Li, and Virginia & Wellington Yee.
Supported by
Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.
