What are some examples of artist-parents’ projects that engage their kids? What are fun and challenging aspects of rethinking a family as a collective? Is non-hierarchical interaction really possible in traditional familial structures? In this conversation co-presented by Asia Art Archive, Rooftop Institute, and Tai Kwun Contemporary, we explore family-initiated collective learning and creativity with three artist-parents across the globe.
Yannick Dauby discusses his family’s residency in a remote village in Taiwan, including his two “professional children.” David Horvitz introduces Change the Name of the Days, a project originating from lessons he wrote for his daughter, which grew into a curriculum of thirty-two mailed activities received weekly by 120 people during the height of the pandemic. Chow Yik Lam speaks about her experience publishing illustrated poetry books, and living out of a bookstore she runs on an outlying island in Hong Kong, , inspired by both the challenges and rewards of being a full-time mother.
In 2021, Rooftop Institute initiated the collective publishing project Event Scores by Artist-Parents. Hong Kong–based artists who are also parents were invited to contribute “event scores” about how parents can accompany, interact, communicate with, or observe their children. This year, the project will expand to include contributions from artist-parents of diverse cultural contexts to inspire discussion and encourage imaginative approaches for family education through art.
The programme is organised in conjunction with AAA at BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair 2023.
This event is part of The Collective School, which explores artist-driven and collective models of learning. Developed in collaboration with Gudskul, a Jakarta-based collective that runs a grassroots school for other collectives, The Collective School provokes debate about what makes collectivity necessary for survival today and how collectives remain adaptive and relevant to their respective contexts.
This conversation will be held both onsite and on Zoom, moderated by artist-parent, researcher, and educator Doris Wong.
No registration required. Please click this link to join the talk via Zoom.
Chow Yik Lam is a housewife and store keeper at To-day Bookstore. Her work involves contrasting the imagery between writing and painting, while bringing herself to the masses through publishing. She independently published Sunset Siesta (2020) and The Hole Opened by Child (2022).
Yannick Dauby is a sound recordist, independent sound designer, and cinema sound mixer with a background in musique concrète and improvisation. Dauby creates phonographic collages using found objects, electroacoustic devices, and phonographies. Based in Taiwan since 2007, Dauby has been researching the island’s soundscape by developing art projects with local Hakka and Atayal communities, including projects concerning coral reefs in the Penghu archipelago and mountain forests in Northern Taiwan.
David Horvitz is an artist living with his daughter Ela Melanie in Los Angeles. Sometimes they change the name of the days. Sometimes they look at the sky. Sometimes they make a photograph of someone who is not here. Sometimes they walk toward the moon. Sometimes they welcome the night into their house. Sometimes they ask a cat for the time. Sometimes they give a tree a name. Sometimes they transcribe the sounds of the wind.
Doris Wong Wai Yin is a PhD candidate in Chinese Art History at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research concerns Hong Kong contemporary art and historiography, with a particular interest in non-tangible art practices such as participatory art and social practice. Wong is also a practicing artist concerned with how personal hypomnemata interacts with master narratives of art history. She is a former Assistant Researcher at Asia Art and holds an MA in Fine Arts from Leeds University.
The Collective School is generously supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, as well as Wendy Lee & Stephen Li, and Virginia & Wellington Yee.
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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.
