We Search for Keywords
捉字室
A: ‘If you are to sum-up your impression of learning in visual arts in three keywords,
what will they be?’
B: ‘That would be creative, audacious, and imaginative.’
A: ‘What about history in three keywords?’
B: ‘ That would be the same! History is about giving room for audacious thoughts and infinite imaginations so that we can revisit, reinterpret what we have discovered, and study our past creatively.’
This dialogue was made between two educators from the field of visual arts and history at the end of an education programme. The reflection above suggests learning in both subjects are different; yet there are shared commonalities, such as thinking process and interpretations that we often overlook due to the customary independent subject-learning environment in Hong Kong. During the years 2015 to 2016, our organisation searched for common threads between the two paradigms through a non-profit learning programme that attempted to introduce local history through the subject of visual arts.
We Search for Keywords is a non-profit visual arts learning programme sponsored by The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation’s Arts: Transforming Hong Kong. The programme aims to encourage young people to unearth the past while giving new meaning to the present. Through the use of three keywords, Map, Name and Landscape that made up the topology of Kai Tak area, students came to build new insights, and relationships with the neighbourhood through creative process, including ceramic making, photo styling, and information mapping. The learning experience aims to arouse diverse discussions on local history, toponym, and urban development. Working in partnership with a core team of three art administrators, I led and directed the programme from conception to successful delivery of outdoor historical games, workshops, commissioned works by artist educators, and final exhibition. This year's long programme has connected with more than 80 students, and visual art teachers from three secondary schools, and delivery of six ‘keywords’ workshops, with a total 64 sessions.
Outdoor historical games
Workshop for keyword: Name
Workshop for keyword: Landscape
Workshop for keyword: Map
Final exhibition
Research and Publication
During this process, in-class observations and qualitative interviews on selective students were done as part of this pilot study. The learning experience and outcomes of young people were being documented in an online and printed publication. This publication attempted to trace different learning trajectories through six case studies and with brief analysis of the results by applying the framework of Generic Learning Outcomes (GLO) as devised by Professor Eilean Hooper Greenhill. By sharing this publication freely among school teachers, art/design educators and local historians, we hope to prompt questions and shed new light in alternative pedagogical interventions for young people in Hong Kong.
Publication on Issuu:
Visual arts learning programme: a collection of case studies, 2015-2016
「捉字室」視藝教育計劃案例結集 2015-2016
‘We Search for Keywords’ Documentation Video
Photo credit: Max Kong and Otto Leung
Documentation video credit: Mandy Lee