1st Annual Exhibition of Jockey Club Project IDEA showcasing multisensory Arts Tech projects
Organised by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Jockey Club Project IDEA (Inclusive Digital and Experimental Art) held its 1st annual exhibition from 3 to 7 August 2023. The exhibition showcased 28 artworks by participating secondary school students and three works by workshop instructors. The project aims to demonstrate the aesthetic potential and new possibilities for social good achieved through a mindful collaboration between arts and technology (Arts Tech).
Jockey Club Project IDEA is a three-year education project launched in 2022. The project utilises CityU’s strengths in Arts Tech to provide platforms for cultivating literacy in the medium. Through the Arts Tech train-the-trainer programmes and student workshops in secondary schools, the project provides niche training for art teachers and nurtures young Arts Tech talents to foster a robust foundation for Arts Tech to flourish in Hong Kong.
Working with arts and social welfare NGOs on a series of sharing talks by people with disabilities (PWDs), and arts accessibility experiences, students and teachers can identify the needs of PWDs in the daily lives and in arts appreciation. The project emphasises the role of Arts Tech in promoting social inclusion and showcases technology-infused artworks that are created to reflect and inform on humanistic values.
Visual Transformation has been the theme of the project in its first year. Fifteen guided tours during the course of the exhibition introduced the public to the project’s content, artistic concepts, the creative process behind the artworks and the importance of promoting arts participation for PWDs. In addition, there were three experiential workshops where instructors explained the use of new materials and techniques to transform hand-drawn artworks into tactile art, engaging visitors in hands-on inclusive Arts Tech.
“Arts Tech is trending right now and artists are exploring the use of technology and new materials to create interactive multisensory experiences, deepening artistic expression and opening up possibilities for more PWDs to participate in and appreciate art,” said Professor Lam Miu-ling, Associate Professor in the School of Creative Media at CityU and Curator and Project Leader.
“Arts Tech may be intimidating for some, sounding unattainable and requiring professional teams and resources, but this project and exhibition aim to demonstrate that Arts Tech can be created on an individual level, with artistic sense, curiosity, creativity and experimentation being the key elements,” Professor Lam added.
Ho Tsoi-wan, a student at Tseung Kwan O Government Secondary School, created an artwork called “Flute” with a painting of a little girl playing a flute under a blue sky. She hopes the accompanying sound of a flute created by using a virtual electronic music production tool can encourage people who are always in a rush to slow down.
“My grandmother is deaf. I learned in the workshop that art is not limited to painting. It can also be in the forms of installations and music and be shared with PWDs to facilitate a more inclusive society,” she explained.
“Our teachers and students benefited a lot from the workshops. We plan to add more Arts Tech elements to the visual arts teaching at the junior secondary level and look forward to more cooperation with CityU,” said Mr Chow Kan-hung, Assistant Principal at Tsoi-wan’s school.
Simon Wong, a student at AD&FD POHL Leung Sing Tak College, created an artwork called “The Voice from the Ocean”, a drawing of a whale with the crying sound of whales playing.
“The ocean is a mysterious world and it is more even difficult for people with visual impairment to understand it. I want to let them feel the ocean through sound, touch and simple lines of the artwork,” he said.
Ms Loretta Chan Sze-wan, a teacher at Simon’s school said, “Currently, our visual arts syllabus mainly focuses on traditional painting and design. The project provides students with the opportunity to get in touch with multimedia arts to inspire their creativity.”