(un)learning matters: socially engaged arts in Hong Kong

This summer school programme was a timely one as I was looking for more experiences in understanding what socially engaged art is about. It was also a catalyst to helping me decide my thesis topic to be about arts and politics in Hong Kong.

I spent two week in Hong Kong Baptist University to create an artwork that is about "unlearning" which is one of the three themes explored in the summer school programme. The project is called "Nomad" and my team is called 'The Tent'.

The main idea for Nomad is to help us to unlearn the proverbs or sayings that we grew up listening to from well-meaning adults and teachers. We have realised that it puts us in categories and made us see things from a tunnel-vision perspective when we take heed to these proverbs. Hence, through Nomad, we encourage visitors to write the proverb that they want to unlearn and re-learn something from the experience.