Newsletter No. 351

No. 351, 19.1.2010 But the management authority of the park felt very uncomfortable with it as their official name doesn’t have the word “Central”.’ Remex did not expect that there would be so many follow- ups after they had finished installing the pieces. ‘We have to give art tours, explain the idea of the project to the viewers, do media interviews, and do a lot of reviews and reports. My classmates joked that our jobs would not finish until all the installations are taken away.’ What she believed to be the greatest gain is that she learned how to explain her creative ideas and the ideas of the project to different people. Mr. Mok could not agree more, ‘For personal creation, the artists will leave it to the viewers to interpret their works. That kind of art can be very private. But public art is different. It is meant to communicate with people, to help people understand art and make art blend in with public life.’ Favourite Scenes What both the instructor and the students consider the most rewarding is the harmony between park users and their installations. Mr. Mok said, ‘On holidays many domestic helpers gather on the lawn in the park to eat or rest. The harmony between them and the art works is beautiful.’ Remex also said, ‘The scene of families and domestic helpers having lunch, walking their rabbits, or just sitting or lying down in the vicinity of my work makes me feel good.’ These young artists too have their own dreams. Bernard said, ‘I hope that I can make art my career.’ Remex said her dream is ‘to make art blend in perfectly with life and bring art to the people’. （接上頁 Continued ） Dreaming in Public The theme of the project is ‘Dare to Dream’. Mr. Mok said that they wanted to rediscover something precious that had long been neglected or forgotten. They wanted the interviewees and the public to contemplate: Do I really have dreams? Mr. Mok said, ‘If you don’t have a dream, then you have a problem. Why don’t you have one? If you have one, has it come true? Or it is too far-fetched to be realized?’ They interviewed over 100 people in the park, at shopping malls, on the streets, and in schools. Mr. Mok said, ‘We want to cover as many kinds of people as possible. Besides young people, we also want to interview the elderly and domestic helpers.’ The seven artists selected 38 interviewees whose dreams they thought to be most special and made board figures of them. The faces of the interviewees on the board figures have been mosaicked. Mr. Mok explained, ‘A person’s dream is something very private and personal. We had their faces mosaicked so that we can show their faces without them being easily recognizable.’ The works of the seven students are different in style. Bernard likes simple patterns and bright colours while Remex designed her piece based on the stories of her subjects. She said, ‘If the interviewee’s dream is to become a kite, I’ll use relevant images to express it. If he likes the facial makeup of Beijing opera, I’ll use similar images.’ Unexpected Interaction When art meets the public, unexpected things happen. Vandalism is one of them. The big balloons attached to the board figures have been stolen or set free. Mr. Mok said, ‘We didn’t expect they would use such a special way to interact with art.’ What Mr. Mok hoped his students could learn from this project was to communicate with different parties and respond to unexpected events. He gave an example: ‘On the day we installed the works, the truck that transported our artworks, which was supposed to arrive in the morning, 楊承謙 Yeung Shing-him Bernard S omeone described public art as the facial expressions of a city’s culture, the externalization of a city’s inner world, and the weathercock of a city’s values. In a narrow sense, public art refers to artworks placed in public space. In a broader sense, public art includes art activities organized and participated in by the public. Different from art in museums, galleries or private collections, public art is inseparable from its locale. It has to blend in with its historical culture, humanistic context, its natural or urban environment, and satisfy the needs of the people living there. Mr. Mok said, ‘Public art is more than the expression of the creative ideas of the artists. It involves communication, cooperation with different people and compromise may be necessary. Because of geographical limitations, not all the personal artistic ideas and aesthetic pursuits of the artists can be realized.’ He also pointed out that one of the characteristics of public art is to speak for the public. ‘The power of discourse should not lie in the hands of artists, sponsors or big shots only. Public art should care about the underprivileged. By featuring the common people, our project “Dare to Dream” wants to give back the power of discourse to the community.’ 公共藝術，誰的藝術？ Public Art, Whose Art? 有 人說，公共藝術是城市文化的表情符號，是城市內在的外化，是 城市價值取向的風標。 狹義上講，公共藝術是指放置在公共空間的藝術品；廣義來說，公共藝 術還包括由公眾舉辦或參與的藝術活動。 公共藝術不同於博物館、畫廊或私人收藏的藝術品，它的特點是不能脫 離所在的場所，必須配合歷史文化、當地公眾的一些特殊條件，還要配 合人文環境、自然環境或都市環境。 莫一新說：「公共藝術不是純粹藝術家個人創意的表現，而是涉及和 不同人溝通、配合、協作，最後可能還要妥協。因為受到實際空間和 場地條件的限制，一些個人的藝術取向、美學追求未必能充分發揮或 展現。」 他還指出：「公共藝術的可貴之處是為公眾發聲，話語權不應只是掌握 在精英，包括藝術家、商業贊助的老闆或權勢人士手上。所以公共藝術 要盡量關注弱勢社群，這次我們的藝術計劃『夠膽發夢』以市民大眾為 主角，就是希望把話語權放回社區。」 胡幗姿 Remex Wu didn’t show up until 7:30 in the evening. That was a big disruption to our plan. So my students had to be resourceful and rearrange manpower according to changing circumstances. This is something that happens all the time in public art production and is what armchair strategists will never experience.’ Bernard expected problems but he had no idea what they would encounter until he saw them. One of his experiences was: ‘Many people call the park Sha Tin Central Park. That was how the interviewees called it. We put their words verbatim on the board figures.