Camping let us discover: Hong Kong students, art education
"The Breath of the Wild" Land Art Camp Sharing Session Postscript
何遠良:「過程最關鍵,大家一齊玩,一齊傾計,嗰種感覺,好難同人地去share。」 | Michael Leung:「圍著營火,人好像會開放起來,無所不談。」 |
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參加者Sam:「一開始時,不要說中學生,我們也很迷惘,始終要些時間適應環境,到第二天才有多些想法。就算天氣不太好,也會感受到自然對你的影響,聽著海浪聲,沙濕濕的,躺在營內,慢慢沈浸在環境裡,那是跟城市很不同的體驗。」 | 黎慧儀:「希望他們在成長的時間,操下、經歷下,以此為起點,繼續去找他們想要的大自然環境。」 |
"I haven't tried to go camping with my back (laughs). I usually wear... a pair of slippers to go hiking in the mountains." He Yuanliang is a participant of the "Breath of the Wild" Dadi Art Camp (the name is very long, hereinafter referred to as "camping") artist. In December 2017, he and more than a dozen open group participants set up camp for three days and two nights in Luojiwan, Lantau. What were they doing? Participants are free to play, dig deep pits on the beach, pick up the sand, burn cow dung to make pottery sculptures. Sometimes he watches on the sidelines and sometimes comes up with fun ideas. "The work is not so meaningful. Sometimes it is the same. A group of people leave the city to experience it. At least they understand that the horizontal line is a little bit? If you dig two meters, you will see water?"
After more than three months, he once again savored this experience: "The process is the most important thing. Everyone plays together and devotes themselves together. It feels like it is so difficult to share with others." Stay away from the hustle and bustle, absorb the sunshine, and feel comfortable when you think about it. Don't feel the same?
"Everyone heard that there is hope for the open group, sir? I'll just use the wok, haha." The weather was not as expected. The camping middle school group spent two days and one night in Pak Lak, Saigon, and there were many problems every day. For example: " They would not sit on the sand to die.” The participating artist Monti sighed in retrospect: “Maybe they didn’t know how much nature is worth cherishing.” The middle school group camped with one to two schools at a time. briefings before departure, the artists play with the students over to say hello, but not deep understanding of how to make them camping in a short time to relax and enjoy this opportunity, "Zuomie had", the artist, is a challenge. From the beginning, he was willing to sit on the sand through a rubber raincoat. Later, he rushed to the rocks on the beach frantically. The teacher said that they might not have the opportunity to go to the beach. Monti was surprised by the level of unfamiliar nature of the students. In terms of the infinite nature of nature, they suddenly don’t know what to do.”
The heavy rain continued throughout the night. She was worried that her classmates would not sleep well. "But it's ok." She also suggested to go to Dongba to watch the sunrise. She told the wrong time. It was a clock early, and the sunrise was hidden behind the clouds. "But When I got there, the land was naturally quiet. I think the land began to invest a lot." Under the boundless sky, there is a certain connection between nature and mankind, she believes her classmates feel it. "Although the whole process is very noisy, I am trying to receive the signal." She raised her hand and imitated her classmates holding the phone and swaying it in mid-air. "Will I be too realistic (laugh)?"
"It's actually not easy to bring them out." Ms Lam is the teacher in charge of one of the participating schools. She said her students are "very urban." Some people have never been to camping, so they can't help but be afraid of being in the suburbs. Same, but after lying on the beach, "I don't want to go." On the camping night, the artist led the students to the observation deck of the Nanshan camp. The students were asked to take turns to make sounds, jam at will, record them, and listen again. She felt that this was an interesting and difficult experience for her classmates, because "Many times, she was really silent, and she didn't know that her voice was related." This is why she encourages her classmates to participate in the camping. "They are too busy and too materialistic. When creating creations, they always ask them what they want, and always say no. I hope they value their feelings or help them build some special experiences." After experiencing sound practice, students have learned something. Is it? Nanshan Observation Deck is a bit noisy, and the students are a bit cautious. She believes "They have feelings, but they need time to settle."
How to help students feel themselves? Monti remembered his experience with elementary school students in Lai Chi Wo: "There is a class of students, it takes six or seven people to drag a tree in the field to drag a gloomy branch back, and then it drops down. It seems that the drag is finished. I’m so happy.” In the first step, there may be no need to arrange any links to let the classmates wild play, “Art is actually a matter of fact. For me, it’s just a discovery. It’s a good training in the field." What about changing into a middle school student? Ms Lam said, it's hard to miss, because they dare not. "Especially a high school student in Hong Kong. If you don't have a model for him, he doesn't know what to do. He might say it's not fun and don't know how to do it." "Tell him to find something in the wild. Every day I ask: "Is it my job to do it?" For middle school students, she suggested that she could show her classmates some fun examples first, and then gradually join the creative process.
"We must slowly build our self-confidence in a boundless nature." Monti feels that certain life styles in Hong Kong have reduced our ability to survive and move a lot, and these skills should be cultivated as soon as possible. "I remember when I was studying in Finland, the teacher showed us that the kindergarten students in the clip didn't know what they were cutting with a knife. They did it every week. They learn from an early age. How about learning?" "Explain my grandma's words: "If you are a big one, you know it, huh?""
"Art education is very fragmented now. Art classes in elementary schools still use labor packs. The materials inside are perfect. (Students) don’t need to know the middle process at all. Give you a lump of mud and ask you to rub it yourself. Where do they come from?" Ms Lam believes that it is feasible to join the land art activities in the current visual arts department. It may be different again." But more importantly, perhaps interdisciplinary art education. "Art has a lot to do with people's feelings, thinking, and imagination, but the current system equates art with painting or other forms, rather than conceptual exploration." This has turned the cart before the horse. "Holding exhibitions and taking exams can't actually help you enter U." The important thing is the process and the concept. "Land art focuses not on art form, but on nature, the environment itself. If you can get it right, art can be included with general knowledge, history, culture, language, etc. In this way, the status of art can be improved a lot. "
I am afraid that I will not be able to cross the life in Hong Kong. "The control is really important now." What makes Ms Lam worry is that the students don't have room to explore on their own. "Parents in the past didn't necessarily care about us like this. There was still room to find different things on their own. At least they wouldn't start tutoring when they were in kindergarten." But the competitive atmosphere of the past decade has severely suppressed students, and the living and activity spaces have become narrower and narrower. , "It’s even more difficult for them to give play to themselves and feel life."
Difficult, but not without room for change.
On the second day in Baila, Saigon, Monti took the students into Baila Village, "I gave them a few tasks, one of which was to ask them to walk around the village in groups of two or three to find something interesting. , Try to create the story left here. Guess if they can find it?" "Of course I can't find it (laughs). After the trip, "Uh, hello." Ask them to walk a few more laps, no more, go again, and then start to be better. I told them, don’t look so big, look at the smallest objects, and ask a lot of why.” Monti said camping, “It sounds like very Hui, but in the end, I also feel that they have a kind of reluctance. This is the first step for them to get in touch with nature. I hope that they will use this as a starting point and continue to find them as they grow up. The natural environment you want."
In 2017, Art Home set out with 170 camping participants. Where do we go next?