HART Living Archives

Background & Introduction

This exercise is a continuation of our exploration in approaching archives studies and the application of the relevant concepts, knowledge or materials, to enrich or sustain creativity, and to support talents/ artists’ developments. Our very first encounter of the subject matter was the partnership with Hong Kong Archives Society launching International Archives Day in 2019, only realisable with the full support of H Queen’s the venue sponsor. We were exposed to both public and private/ personal archives, spanning from the corporate & business sector to NGO and educational institutions based in Hong Kong. Then we extended the discussion and discovery at the program entitled Sharing Session - Approaches to the Archive: Three Perspectives with our HART community in January last year. 

I envision to excite your curiosity in archives studies that contribute to the legacy of the Hong Kong arts & cultural ecosystem, the industry and its landscape, collectively. Consistency and endurance are vital to our (as well as the community’s) growth, hence we see the potential and vision of this exercise then to achieve more and better together.   

--- Jeannie Wu, Director, HART Collective Limited

Possible perspectives looking into this topic in developing your work…

  • Clarifying or exploring between archives studies and the use of archival materials for creative- (art)-works-making

  • Archives being evidences in witnessing the growth and developments/ evolution of the art industry and/ or local Hong Kong artist(s)

  • Feedback on the knowledge shared from previous HART|Beat classes on such topic (e.g. "The 5 Courses" - Sharing as a Manager in the Arts Industry, RERUN & ELEVATE - Sharing on Art Management etc.)

  • Your insights and feedback gained from https://www.ica.org/en/what-archive, in particular how do these knowledge inform or inspire creatives to build their own archives, esp. for studios

  • How do you think that archives relate to HART?

  • Any aspects that you found interesting relating to this topic in this context (i.e. H.K. cultural landscape)

Knowledge-sharing to support your creation…

‘Urban built environments are spatial and material archives. Streets, buildings, open spaces, or infrastructures are registers of historical negotiations and repositories of data. Stories of power, geopolitics, economic systems, labour and culture can be revealed through road names and construction materials, portals and pediments, park benches and chimneys. Embodying our desires, needs, and resources, they condition how we live and interact with each other and trigger countles reinterpretations and re-appropriations. Most of this dense layering is not immediately legible; it has not been decoded. Rather it is part of a more intuitive, lived sense of “urbanity” that generates contemporary individual and collective senses of identity and belonging. These complex urban palimpseste form the constitutive stages upon, with and against which everyday and extraordinary cultural life is performed.’

… reads the very first paragraph in the introduction entitled “Unpacking urban heritage” of the book Things don’t really exist until you give them a name. I tried to shorten and extract this paragraph to share with you in this guideline, but these lines are too perfect to illustrate why and how I see my attempt to construct ‘Living Archives’ being vital and significant to HART’s --- as well as that to the Hong Kong arts & cultural sector’s --- legacy.

  1. How do you read the city/ cityscapes and architectures as registers of our cultural & societal archives?

  2. Why should we document/ do documentation for the development of creative initiatives like HART?

  3. How do you think collectivity/ collective memories contribute to our humanity?

  4. Every curation, creation or narrative made for (art)works making is an interpretation of our everyday lives or as footnote to what’s relevant in the contemporary world --- how do you put them into context (i.e. related to each other to make a good stream of history) then to make them relevant or useful to future generations?

  5. Can you tell the key difference of/between an archives and a library/ resource centre?

  6. Why are the above relevant to the arts --- or to be more precise, the arts in Hong Kong?

If you have any further enquiry or question, please feel free to reach out to Jeannie at jeannie@thehart.com.hk 

背景與簡介

此計劃是我們繼續探索檔案研究和應用相關概念、知識或素材的延伸，以豐富或創造力並支持人才/藝術家發展。我們第一次接觸這題目是與香港檔案學會的合作，於2019年舉辦了國際檔案日，並且在H Queen’s作為場地贊助商的全力支持下才能實現。我們從公司和商業部門，至非政府組織和香港的教育機構的層面上，認識公共和私人/個人檔案。及後我們擴展了討論和發現，透過與活動《Approaches to the Archive: Three Perspectives》與HART社區分享。

我希望能激發您對檔案研究的好奇心，這些研究共同為香港藝術和文化生態系統、行業及其面貌發展有著重要貢獻。一致性和耐力對於我們（以及社區）的成長至關重要，因此，我們看到了這項計劃的潛力和遠景目標，以共同實現更多、更優越的成就。

—— 胡津如，HART總監

創作作品時可考慮以下方向...

  • 釐清或探索有關檔案研究，與使用檔案材料進行創作（藝術）作品

  • 檔案作為見證藝術行業和/或香港本地藝術家的成長、發展/演變的證據

  • 對過往的HART | Beat課程在該主題上所分享知識的反饋（例如《藝術行政的五堂課》

  • 、《新演繹/新領域—— 藝術行政管理探討》等）

  • 從 https://www.ica.org/en/what-archive 獲得的啟發或見解，特別是這些知識如何激發創意人才建立自己的檔案，尤其是工作室

  • 如何看待檔案與HART的關係

  • 在此範圍內（即香港文化環境）與這個主題相關任何有趣的題目

希望以下分享能有助於你的創作…

（下列引用原文為英語）

‘Urban built environments are spatial and material archives. Streets, buildings, open spaces, or infrastructures are registers of historical negotiations and repositories of data. Stories of power, geopolitics, economic systems, labour and culture can be revealed through road names and construction materials, portals and pediments, park benches and chimneys. Embodying our desires, needs, and resources, they condition how we live and interact with each other and trigger countles reinterpretations and re-appropriations. Most of this dense layering is not immediately legible; it has not been decoded. Rather it is part of a more intuitive, lived sense of “urbanity” that generates contemporary individual and collective senses of identity and belonging. These complex urban palimpseste form the constitutive stages upon, with and against which everyday and extraordinary cultural life is performed.’

以上是《Things don’t really exist until you give them a name》一書中導言「Unpacking urban heritage」的第一段。我試圖簡化和節錄此段，以便在本文件中與你分享，但是這些句子太完美了，充份說明為什麼和我認為構建Living Archives的嘗試對於HART、並香港藝術文化界的傳承至關重要，且意義非凡。

  1. 如何理解城市/城市景觀和建築作為我們的文化和社會檔案的記錄？

  2. 我們為什麼要記錄如HART等創意企劃的發展？

  3. 你如何看待集體性/集體記憶對我們人類的貢獻？

  4. 每一個策展、創作或有關（藝術）作品製作的敘述都是對我們日常生活的一種解釋，或者是當代世界相關內容的註腳 —— 您如何將它們融入環境（即相互聯繫，並貫穿歷史），使它們對未來世代具關連性或用處？

  5. 你能否說出檔案與圖書館/資源中心之間的主要區別？

  6. 為什麼上​​述與藝術有關，或者更準確地，與香港的藝術有關？

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