Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

This research examines community art in Hong Kong by studying community art projects of five active organizations. The research will study the concept and the practice of art projects and perceptions of the audience. Contextualization, participation, collaboration, antagonism and empowerment will form the framework to discuss the concept and the practice. Grant Kester’s dialogical aesthetics, Nicolas Bourriaud’s relational aesthetics and Claire Bishop’s theory of antagonism will also be applied to identify similarities and differences. Can the local project leader, Wallace Chang’s “massage” style community art and activist Tse Pak-chai’s “community appreciation” discourse be part of the local aesthetics? This research will generate a set of aesthetics underlying Hong Kong community art to allow for a better understanding of this art form and a set of methodologies sensitive to art practices to explicate their impact and influence.