SCM Annual Show 2012

The SCM Annual is an annual is an annual… each time reformulating itself to give expression to a new generation of artists who lay claim to aesthetic positions that define a starting point for the further evolution of their respective creative works and identities. At this point the cycle of an educative adventure folds in and unfolds out towards the myriad future challenges/opportunities of their creative engagement with society and the world. Also at this point in 2012 another opportunity is taking place, one that many cohorts of students at the School of Creative Media have long imagined and has now reached fruition. Our new building, brilliantly conceived by the architect Daniel Libeskind, brings with it a 400 square meter exhibition room as well as many other interesting spaces, which from now on will be the yearly home of the SCM Annual. So in effect this exhibition celebrates its ‘birth day’, a new beginning being celebrated by a new generation of creative professionals in conclusion of their intrepid studies. We are all privileged by this circumstance, and welcome all to share in and contribute to its creative abundance.

When I was asked to write something for the SCM graduation show this year I began to think what I should write about and it occurred to me that maybe I should ponder on the purpose or meaning of such an event without denying its necessity. But what really is its meaning with regard to student participants, to teachers who might also happen to be advisers to their works and to the general public with its appearance as audience? As I understand it, the graduation show is first and foremost a collection and presentation of students’ works upon graduation to be shared with its audience, the culmination of a learning process that has lasted for several years and now finally assembled in an exhibition that, other than showing the creative ability and outcome of students, will in turn project and promote the strength and image of the school. If this is the mission it carries, what should be done to see to it that the show is a good show and unique in terms of the quality of the works exhibited for the benefit of the students and the ultimate recognition of the school? Should there be a selection process to separate the good from the not-so-good not to mention the bad and the awful, and guarantee that only the best will be beheld and upheld and in the absence of a selection process, is it still meaningful to show a show and possible to realize an exhibition as a significant visual structure of prominence? Who should be on the selection panel and what criteria of selection should be set down to safeguard the equilibrium between fairness and quality?Is the final grade given to a work enough proof of its merit and reliable enough for the selection panel to decide on its admission to or rejection from heaven? I wish it were as simple as that because art and creativity is never as simple as that and any kind of selection process will in the end find itself unbearably inefficient and self-defeating, not in terms of not being able to uphold the best but in surely missing the subtly good ones the hidden treasures. For our eyes our ears our perceptions will never be able to see through, get to the heart of, and do justice to all the ambiguities and complexities of creativity, not even when we are strongly supported by or powerfully equipped with the knowledge and theories we have around us. For art is the breath of life and standing in awe in the face of it, we are always breathless! So in removing a selection process which I doubt is the best way out, I wonder if a proper show is still possible; and opening heaven’s gate to everyone who wishes to enter, audience will eventually be introduced to and confronted with a world that resembles the one we are unfortunate enough to be living in today with its imperfect co-existence of the good, the not-so-good, the bad and the awful in which tolerance is the only possible way to peace by seeing it as a mirror that reflects relentlessly rawness and sophistication in its true state of being. So, after all the doubts and reservations, may be it is the passion the persistence the effort of the students that are crucial and important that are to be considered at the end of the day, which the showing of their works, with all the scars and traces left from a battle of painful struggles with their own creative selves will arouse audience’s sympathy and acceptance, with an understanding of the difficulties they have suffered and endured in the creative process and an encouraging salute to their commitments and accomplishments. This is what the graduation show in truth should be, not a vain manifestation of vision and excellence for praise and glory but the first step and a lesson of creative activities humbly presented with all the human defects and errors to be witnessed, reflected and learned, that the journey of a life time of creative exploration and redemption be possible hereafter.

Despite having lived in English-speaking countries for many years I still speak English with an accent. One never shakes off one’s native accent entirely: unusual tonal inflection at the end of a sentence, slight mispronunciation of words here and there, logic of phrase structure that is more consistent with the native tongue – these moments of slippage creep up behind you as soon as you let your guards down, to reveal the fact that your Central Processing Unit (CPU) is still computing the world in the language of your ancestors.

It would be naïve of me to assume that each and every one of you will turn into a full time artist after graduation. Regardless of your choice of career trajectory I hope that we as mentors have at least managed to embed and install inside each one of you a framework for understanding the world, a set of values, a default accent, a native tongue. Artists do not operate in vacuums. Works of art circulate, generating real cultural, social and political consequences. An artist as free agent ought to reflect upon the values she / he abides by in all acts of creativity – I hope that we have at least taught you that much during your time at SCM, so that you will be able to articulate the values that you abide by in all aspects of life, from mundane purchase decisions to career choices to whether to head to Victoria Park on June Fourth.

One day, you too might learn to speak the pragmatic language of the world. But at the moments of linguistic slippage, where meaning becomes nonsense and ancestry is unmasked, we as teachers will be able to find surplus of detail that will reveal the truth content of our work.

Wake Up! Look Forward!

The SCM Annual 2012 is not about how memorable our former campus was. We are trying to put a comma between the past and the future, and showing the importance for one to look forward.

How can one make use of the new space and maximize its use to the fullest? Be not afraid of the rules, and break through the limitation of space and oneself. Having such an extraordinary building for creativity, we are ready to tell others what creativity is and to show our color.

Do not let our innovative spirit stop at nostalgia. Let us move our Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre forward with our relentless explorations and curiosity about sound, images, electronics, space and even programming. 


The SCM Annual 2012 is not only a roundup of over 70 graduating students’ artworks and how remarkable our facilities in the past were, but an open ending for us to reshape our new study area. In the past, we had a compact but transparent study area, a big round wooden table and a smelly toilet at the former parking lot. Now that we have moved to a spatial building containing 24 hours working spaces, multi-media theatre with world-class equipment and facilities, it is time for us to make good use of the hardware, ignite our creativity and gather our collective efforts to make the impossible possible.

Let’s embrace what we have and let our creativity flow perpetually.

又再次從陌生感和比較記憶中審視一個全新的地方

坦白說
懷念乃是人之常情吧

希望未來的學弟學妹能動動腦好好善用這個新的地方
期待一天五湖四海九唔搭八都能在這三尖七角裏發生