A talk by Wu Mail 'Art as Aocial Engagement: Working in Community'
Taiwan-Hong Kong Curator Exchange Programme Official Partner 1a Space Presents:
A Talk by Wu Mali ‘Art as Social Engagement: Working in Community’
Date & Time: 19 January 2013 (Saturday), 3-5pm Venue: 1a Space (Unit 14, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, Hong Kong) The talk is conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Background
1a Space is proud to present a talk by renowned Taiwanese curator and multi-disciplinary artist Wu Mali, titled ‘Art as Social Engagement: Working in Community’ on 19th January. The talk is the first in a series of eventsdesigned for the inaugural ‘Taiwan-Hong Kong Curator Exchange Programme’ in 2012-13. The exchange programme is organized by the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF) in Taiwan.
Theme
In recent years, there has been a number of attempts to bring art into communities in Hong Kong, while social engagement has become something of a hot topic in art. Wu Mali will explore the topic of community art in her talk based on her experience in organizing art projects for various Taiwanese local groups, and discuss the different facets of socially engaging art with the audience in Hong Kong.
Contact local artists
The exchange programme will culminate in an exhibition curated by Wu Mali on community art in Taiwan and Hong Kong. As preparation for the exhibition, she is keen to get in touch with community art practitioners in Hong Kong, in order to gain a better understanding of the current condition in which this type of art operates. Artists and all those who are interested in this kind of projects are welcome to contact her during her stay in Hong Kong.
Wu Mali’s Bio
Wu Mali is currently Assistant Professor and Head of Graduate Institute of Interdisciplinary Art in the National Kaohsiung Normal University. After graduating from the National Art Academy, Dusseldorf, Germany, Wu returned to Taiwan in 1985 and focused on creating critical artworks that respond to the political and social reality at the time. In recent years she has devoted much of her energy to organizing community art activities, with the aim of going beyond criticism and use creative thinking to push for real changes. Her community art projects include ‘Awakening from Your Skin’ (2000-2004), which encouraged local women to explore and reconsider their own bodies and minds through playing with textiles; ‘Tracing Danshui River’ (2006), ‘A Cultural Action on Tropic of Cancer’ (2006-7), and more recently ‘A Cultural Action on Plum Tree Creek’ (2011).
Upcoming Events
Celebrated local writer and critic Mr. Ma Kwok Ming will give a talk on 26th January (3-5pm) at 1a Space, where he will discuss art’s intervention in the public sphere from the perspective of Walter Benjamin’s seminal essay ‘The Author as Producer’. The in-depth discussion may inspire practitioners to think about community art from an unusual point of view. Ms. Lai Hsiang-ling, the director of Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei, will give a talk on 7th March (time to be confirmed) in Hong Kong upon the invitation of 1a Space and Asia Art Archive. She will speak about the development of curating as a practice in Taiwan. The talk will take place at Asia Art Archive.