This slide was made for the in-class presentation of "Elements in Visual Arts and Approach to Art Criticism" course at HKBU Academy of Visual Arts, which was taught by Dr. Daniel Lau Chak-kwong in 2007. The topic is "Happenings", which I apply the performance-art creations by Kwok Mang-ho, Ching Chin-wai and Pak Sheung-chuen as examples.

1. Happenings
Vincent Lee (06009913)

2. Definition of “Happening Arts”
 A kind of public art which could take place anywhere
 Often multi-disciplinary, including visual arts, music,
acrobats or even dress-up
 Lack a narrative mean, rather spontaneous,
improvisational
 Extend a little bit of planned elements to be some
kind of performances guided by the flow of one’s
emotion

3. Function
 Bridge the gap between art work and
audience, in which the spiritual essence of
visual arts merges with our real life

4. Benefit
 Audience rarely need to pay extra effort to
understand and digest the contents and
ideas of an art activity, since their
appreciations would be guided by the artist
with the use of rhythms and lively vividness.

5. What is more…
 A happening art usually helps ease the
nervous and busy mood of urban dwellers,
since most of the art elements bring about
visual pleasures.
 Artists could arouse public awareness to
social absurdities by performing some
satirical stories.

6. Kwok Mang Ho – the King of Frog

7. Introduction to his work
 Kwok established his personal symbol – the Frog. He
created his own engraved seal with such symbol and
chopped everywhere he performed. Usually, he
linked his frog-liked gestures with the activity of
Chinese painting and calligraphy-writing, whereas his
brushworks are extremely self-expressive. His
performances were often transformed into valuable
art pieces through being captured into photographs
and being edited to be somewhat like postcards.
People can either get the postcards or Kwok’s
explorative calligraphic pieces as a kind of collective
memory after enjoying the unrestricted gathering.

9.  Great innovation
in Hong Kong
contemporary art
circus – mixture
of Chinese art,
installation art
and behavioral
art

10. Chinese ink:
the centre
theme of his
happenings

11.  Momentary
gratifications to
audience’s visions

12. From Kwok’s work, you can see the
following visual elements…
 Physical show-off
 Ancient Chinese art mediums
 Personal logos
 Fluctuating facial expressions
 Indoctrination of his frog-liked subconscious mind
within his gathering audience
 Laugh
 The violation of behavioral restraints, as well as
eliminating people’s common artistic standard in
terms of well-preparation and idea-development
 A sense of unleash

13. Ching Chin Wai

14. Ching’s concept
 “I live in this city at the same time I observe
the city as if I am an outsider. I react to the
city spontaneously. I deconstruct the city.
And then, I observe it again.”
(an over-distant artistic appreciation)

15. The combination of two eggs into the
same piece of yolk
 Very
explorative,
without well-
planned
intentions

16. “Taking apart from the gift or wrapping
the gift?”
 Re-puzzled the
broken egg
surface in such an
occasion, and then
was recorded by
camera all of a
sudden

17. Inspired by environmental settings
where you walk through
 Monuments were made freely in Shaukeiwan,
Central, Tai Po etc. to commemorate the
disappeared relationship between men and pets.

18. Ching’s concept
 Playful: project the absurdities of daily lives

19. Pak Shuang Chuen, Tozar
 Pak works with Ching
Chin Wai in Ming Pao
Editorial Board. Both of
them are asked to create
some time-restricted
artwork in order to remind
urban dwellers to stop for
a while in such a busy
atmosphere.

20. Occasional discovery of subject matters, then
create some ideas through an easy procedure
of reorganization
 “The extension
of the longitude
of Hong Kong
and the latitude
of Taipei form a
crossing in
China. I traveled
to that position
and found a
stone in shape
of Taiwan
Island.”

21. Discovery of
vertical objects
by photo-taking,
then reorganized
them into a
snapshot

22. A Present to Central Government
(during the July-1 Demonstration)
 Pak laid a piece
of yellow cloth
off on Hennessy
Road to bear
witness to the
third July-1
Demonstration.
Cutting across
the route, it was
there to get
footprints of the
marchers.

23.  Then, Pak took many
pieces of yellow cloth to
Beijing, and tied them
into ribbons around the
periphery of Tiananmen
Square as a mean of
expressing Hong Kong
citizens’ desire for
democracy.

24. A little flower for the pass-by (for those who pick up
the coins would receive luck and blessings!)

25. Pak’s style of happenings
 Express his feeling of loneliness and
alienation in the urban life

26. Relationship between happenings and
performance arts:
 Performance art can be any situation that
involves four basic elements: time, space,
the performer's body and a relationship
between performer and audience. It is
opposed to painting or sculpture, for
example, where an object constitutes the
work.
 Happenings is under the category of
Performance Arts. But, Happenings could still
revitalize the importance of studio or media
art mediums.

27.  Same as performance arts, Happenings
strongly rely on media arts (photography and
video) to save your idea and promote it
throughout the community.

28. Happenings: Everyone has the potential of
being an artist! But, do remember…
 Backup support for the popularity of your
happening arts: media, under the statement
of an institution, e.g., in Cattle Depot
 Audience’s participation
 Well manipulation of recording techniques if
really wanted to be known by others –
photography, snapshot, video etc.

29. A very healthy mean!
 Happenings provide an alternative drainage
for the people, who’re not very good at
painting or sculpture, to release their
emotions and ease their panics. (to make a
breakthrough upon the art traditions)
 Everybody enjoys art free-of-charge.
Happening artists unite the joyful feelings in
the gathering, thus audience abandon their
daily life pressure.

30.  No matter the happening artists or audience
would no longer be serious to life absurdities.
They would carry a rather optimistic and
positive mind.
 As the artistic movements are recorded,
participants could recollect the pleasant
flavour at any time.

31. THANK YOU
 Choi Hung means “Rainbow”! Tozar Pak