When otherwise aloof and distant city dwellers come together, it almost always engenders a sense of the idealistic and romantic. In Cantonese, the term “” (圍威喂) is nonetheless critical of the romanticism often attributed to “getting together”. The term refers to when a group of highly homogeneous individuals gathers around, only calls out and responds to one another, and is oblivious to much else happening outside their circle.
In a digital age, the practice of “getting together” and to some extent that of in-group congregation are becoming more and more common. This not only takes place on social media and in the arenas of social activism, but has also been taken up by many contemporary art practitioners as an experiment. In the summer of 2014, Hong Kong artist and curator curated to paint a landscape of Hong Kong youths’ self-organisation practices. In 2015 and 2016, a community project titled gathered a group of young artists, writers and curators to travel around various mainland Chinese cities as an attempt to construct a community and movement without “power inertia” and “illusions of autonomy”. Publisher is one of the project’s organisers and artist is one of the project’s participants. One can observe from the events in Hong Kong this summer, the discursive influence of self-organised collaboration is still prevalent today, if not more so. On the other hand, the prefigurative practice of the “OnPractice” reverberates among the youth of various cities. In an era when the connections among individuals hold myriad possibilities, how can self-organisation be a radical form of “getting together” and not merely “”. This lecture seeks to review and respond to Hong Kong’s practice of self-organisation, particularly from the perspective of artistic and social participation.
is an artist, community activist and independent curator based in Hong Kong.
is a Yangjiang-born editor and art worker.
is a Guangzhou-based art worker.
The discussion will be conducted in Cantonese.