The deadline for the applications of the Hong Kong Jockey Club – Para/Site Art Space Curatorial Training Programme is coming up in a few days.
The programme is perfect for everybody who would like to work actively in the arts and likes a great introduction in today’s contemporary art scene.
The full time seven-month course will allow you to meet important artists, curators, and writers and other art activists. It will include a writing workshop as well as at least one overseas trip. The De Appel Curatorial Programme’s advisers will come over to help implement the programme and teach as well as host in Amsterdam for at least a week.
If you are interested in the programme, please contact Para/Site.
For more information please go to:
http://www.para-site.org.hk/events/2007curatorial.htm
Filmaka has launched its Sixth contest.
To learn more about Filmaka: www.filmaka.com
Topic of 6th contest: ‘The Game’.
Submissions are accepted till 30th May 2007.
Specifications:
“The Game” is looking forward to seeing how filmmakers across the world explore this theme.
All entries must be 1-3 minutes in length, and must be uploaded by midnight PST, May 30th, 2007.
The top 15-20 filmmakers each month have a chance at the annual grand prize: a feature film contract.
Filmaka- an online short film network designed by established filmmakers for emerging talent worldwide. It is a monthly, online subscription based worldwide competition, in any language, that offers you the chance to enter your films and win $3000, plus the chance of making a feature film deal with established Hollywood filmmakers. Judged by the panel of multi award winning jurors(Colin Firth & Bill Pullman and directors Neil LaBute, John Madden, and Paul Schrader), this is the only place where you can show off your film making skills and proves your talents to the people who can really make it happen. You may upload your films beginning December 15th until December 23rd. Log on to www.filmaka.com for complete contest rules and deadlines.
Membership is free for film students all over the world.
For inquries, contact: bindia.filmaka@gmail.com
Filed under: curriculum & study plan
As promised in previous postings, a full overview of the 4 critical studies courses will help you to plan ahead your study plan for the year. Here they are: 3 offered in Semester A, and 1 offered in Semester B. These courses may have direct impact on your Graduation Thesis. Mix and match thoughtfully…
SM2264 User Research
Semester A / Kimburley Choi
Do you find the interface of capsule toy vendors, sticker photo machine, karaoke, MP3 player, mobile phone, on-line chats, internet shopping, computer games and so on user friendly and attractive? Have you experienced frustration when you deal with these products? How do you engage differently when you play RPG game and action game? Are products in the market suitable for all ages? The course User Research aims at combining analytical thinking, research on users’ needs and experiences and creative insight by creating design prototypes. Classes begin with more traditional topics in cognitive psychology to recent developments in ethnographic approach. Various research methods will be covered. Students are expected to engage in observation and analysis of real life situations related to the use of technology. Upon completion of the course, students will identify common design flaws, users’ needs and enjoyment regarding particular products, and translate their user research data into the creation of design prototypes.
SM3112 Cultures & Identities
Semester A / Kimburley Choi
Culture shapes how we think of ourselves and how we perceive others; at the same time, we use culture in various ways to deal with everyday experiences. This course, grounded on the local context of Hong Kong, explores how the intersection between everyday life and the broader political and historical context, and how they constitute a particular kind of “common” culture, Hong Kong culture, for a new-born identity Heung Gong Yan from the late 1960s. Hong Kong culture is not homogeneous but multiple and debatable. With an emphasis on power, the course asks students to do cultural research on how and why the world is experienced so and with what effects. Since this course is about doing cultural studies, it foregrounds research practice and research processes as praxis informed by theory.
SM3138 Creative City and Urban Critique
Semester B / Wesley Tang
“Is the city becoming an entertainment machine?” “What is the appeal of small town life?” “Are there different ways to discuss the politics of SimCity?” “How can we use space and time creatively in a city?” This course aims to introduce a series of historical models of urban critique and creative intervention (including general issues and detailed aspects of urban studies and planning, cultural geography, and avant-garde movements), and subsequently define a more critical notion of a creative city. Students can expect to identify and understand the key writings and theories on cities, urban life, architecture and urban planning, compare different case studies across Europe, America and Asia, and verify the relevance of the conceptual frameworks with their own experimental design and creative intervention in a range of selected local communities and urban settings.
Note: This course will rely heavily on the form of student-oriented seminar: students will be organized into small study groups which will take turn to present – on a weekly basis – and jointly discuss at least two special topics, articles or chapters from a selected bibliography.
SM4134 Visual Ethnography and Creative Intervention
Semester A / Linda Lai
Hand-notes, photographs, video images… Which of these tell us more, or better? What do you do with a family photo album? What does it tell us that words don’t? A video camera is sitting in the corner to record…but isn’t it possible that it becomes part of us, moves with us, and participates actively in the everyday setting to make things happen? You interview a person: s/he talks and you receive her/his views. Objects don’t talk, and yet they tell us amazingly a lot. Can our research activities be creative activities that change the world? “Ethnography” means “being there,” bearing eye-witness to human activities, creating documents, and “producing (new) knowledge” about society and culture. Traditional field research relies a lot on note-taking. When our field research involves the use of audio visual tools, we approach and relate to the world differently. This course has two main components: to learn how to study our everyday culture using visual media, and to study visual objects in our everyday life, such as photographs, movies, materials on YouTube, graphic design etc. to see what they tell us about the world in which we live. This course discusses in depth important cultural theories, history of documentaries, creative impulses in urban studies, and research methods in anthropology.
This course is project-based, individual and in groups. Students are expected to be independent learners who are ready to discover more via reading, research and creation.
簡介會Briefing session:
簡述計劃背景，建議計劃書需注意之事項，附設答問時間
Introduction to the Bloomberg Emerging Artists programme and an overview of application requirements, followed by Q & A session.
日期 Date May 23, 2007 (Wed)
時間 Time 6:00 – 7:00pm
地點 Venue 藝穗會(中環下亞厘畢道2號地下香港藝穗會) / Fringe Gallery, Fringe Club, Ground Floor, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong
留座 Reservation: kattie@hkyaf.com
*需預先留座 / RSVP is required.
截止報名日期 Closing date for the application: June 4, 2007 (Monday)
報名表格及詳情 Application form is available at: www.hkyaf.com
Filed under: Opportunities
A company is looking for an in-house designer to handle both printed matters and corporate website.
This designer will work in the Corporate Communications department, focusing on the production of marketing colleterals such as brochures and corporate videos. S/he could be very busy in summer when we produce the company annual report, but other than that the overall workload won’t be harsh.
Main Duties:
Design and artwork production of newspaper supplements, leaflets, brouchers, newsletters and other promotional collaterals
Graphic design of internal communication materials and / or corporate presentation templates
Content management of websites of the Company and its subsidiaries
Management of photo libraries
Photo retouching and video editing
Event backdrop design, occasional event coordination and set up
Other corporate communications activities of corporate collateral production
Requirements
Diploma or above in graphic / multimedia design or related discipline
Minimum 2 years’ relevant experience
Proficiency in design and animation software including Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, Flash, Dreamweaver and HTML programming
Creative, self-initiative and well organized
Willing to work overtime and able to work independently as well as under pressure to meet project deadlines
Good command of spoken and written English and Chinese
Video editing skills is an advantage
Immediately available preferred
See also official job ad on jobsdb.com.hk and
Dear Year 2 students,
This message contains info on ALL the core + elective courses to be offered in the coming academic year. Before you go through the list, I want to highlight a few things:
(1) A core emphasis in the coming academic year for CIL is the component of sound and sound art. We are very lucky to have an expertise in this area, Dr. John Drever (Goldsmiths, University of London), to come to teach the coming version of SM4143 “Sonic Arts and the history of Noises and Souns”. With his presence, we are also able to, finally, launch the long awaited “Sound Installation and Spatialization.” Due to Drever’s status as Visiting Scholar, we can only have him for one semester. We are still uncertain about whether and when we’ll have the resources to offer Sound Installation again. I would therefore urge all of you to grab the opportunity to work with him in SM3130, if not also SM4143.
(2) SM4134 (Visual Ethnography & Creative Intervention), SM3112 (Cultures & Identities), SM2264 (User Research) and SM3138 (Creative City & Urban Critique) (Sem B) may look a bit similar. But they have very clear emphasis and they each have their own distinct objectives. Stay posted. We shall post here next week to give you more details on these 4 courses so you can plan your units across the two semesters.
(3) Phoebe’s “Installation Workshop” and “Arts Criticism” will only be offered in alternative years. We may consider improving the situation if our human resources situation improves.
(4) Linda’s “Visual Ethnography” and “Space & Narratives,” too, will only be offered in alternative years, given her heavy teaching and administrative load. But these two courses have some shared theoretical concerns and subject matters, though with different emphasis. You may want to clarify with her in person. More info next week, as said in (2) above.
(5) Also, for the first time, we can offer SM3136 Workshop in Game Design (Semester B), to offer very hands-on follow-up to Game & Play Studies (core).
It is great that after 2 years of evolvement, we are finally able to complete the dream of pulling together sufficient courses to sustain a “sound art” component as well as a “game-making” component. Also, with all the courses listed in (2), we have finally demonstrated the full-fletched strength of CIL’s focus on critical/urban studies and creativity.
To see a full list of all core and electives and distribution, read here.
Arrangement has been made with the Production Centre:
All Year 3 students can check out an external hard-disk for the purpose of fine-tuning your GT (graduation thesis). Lab facilities are available to you as usual.
THE ARRANGEMENT:
External hard disk ONLY is available. NO SHOOTING or RECORDING equipment is allowed as you are not supposed to re-shoot.
The period for your entitlement to hard-disk usage:
May 14 – June 10 (inclusive)
There will be absolutely no extension of such a period. Any late return of hard disk to the Production Centre beyond June 11 will result in one full-grade deduction.
PURPOSE OF THE ARRANGEMENT:
- to pick up the discussion with your EE and Advisers in the Oral Presentation to improve and fine-tune your work
- to churn out a more polished and improved version of your GT for your portfolio and for the Graduation Show.
Grab the chance and perfect your work.
Linda
It might be a bit early to bring this up. But in case you’re already making plans to travel, or you want to switch to a more contemplative mode for your long summer, I would recommend two light but smart and definitely worthwhile books, both by Steven Johnson:
Everything Bad is Good for You: How Popular Culture is Making Us Smarter (2005 Riverhead Books / 2006 Penguin) / Steven Johnson
Here’s a quote from the opening pages of the book: “This book is an old-fashioned work of persuasion that ultimately aims to convince you of one thing: that popular culture has, on average, grown more complex and intellectually challenging over the past thirty years.”
This suggests Johnson’s main argument in the book: that popular culture may not be simply a machine that turns us into little children as older cultural studies critical writings hold…
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software (2001) / Steven Johnson
You can tell from the title of the book it emphasizes an inter-disciplinary approach that CIL encourages.
In fact, a group of year two students just did a wonderful presentation on the first chapter of the book in the last class meeting of SM2220 Generative Art & Literature.
Both books are great in combining cultural studies concerns with issues on technologizes society, exactly what the CIL curriculum wants to explore. Most importantly, the book is relatively easy to read.
More on Steven Johnson, visit his web log:
For the very curious minds, you also want to read Johnson’s Interface Culture (1997).
(Linda)
Filed under: News
Reminder (1)
As much as you can, please participate in the seminar on intellectual rights and copyrights for media works this evening. It should be all CIL and SCM students’ concern. DETAILS, see posting on April 30, or check “broadened horizons”…
Reminder (2)
The deadline for the Women Make Waves Festival is coming up: May 30, 2007.
All women students would like to meet this deadline. Talk to me or Phoebe about this festival if you want to know more.
(Linda)
Filed under: News
CIL Year 3 students’ Graduation Thesis oral defense with external examiners will take place May 7-9, 11, 2007. The individual presentations are semi-open events.
Year Two CIL and all SCM students are welcome to audit, to support your friends, or to learn about how the Oral Presentation works. The Oral Presentation is the final requirement to complete their CIL Graduation Thesis.
Linda
