Lectures
12 September – 3 December 2016
Connecting Spaces Hong Kong – Zurich welcomes the 2nd edition of Transcultural Collaboration, an international graduate semester program and cooperation of various art universities from East Asia and Europe including all art and design disciplines. Its general focus are transcultural topics, such as traditions, identity, values, different forms of life, globalization processes in general and between Europe and East Asia in particular.
As a part of the program we offer a public lecture series on this years’ topic Beyond Purity, which will take place between September – November at Connecting Space Hong Kong. All lectures are open to public and free of charge.
Lecture 1 –
Beyond Benevolence: Hong Kong as a Global “Raceless” City
Date and Time: 14 September 2016 (Wednesday), 7:00pm
Venue: Connecting Space Hong Kong (Directions)
Admission: Free
Speaker: Prof. John Nguyet Erni
Many in Hong Kong have identified the city as “half-sovereign” or “conditionally sovereign,” as the times of post-1997 have brought about new ruptures and shifting boundaries of citizenship in economic, cultural, and legal terms. The work of deciphering questions of belonging and multicultural existence is still ongoing, and has in fact intensified in recent times. Increasingly, who qualifies as a citizen and where their sense of home is have become vital questions for two visible groups: the Chinese Mainlanders whose personal and cultural fortunes have been transformed by opportunities presented by the permeability of the city-border, and the foreign domestic helpers whose right of belonging has been caught in the discrimination of immigration laws.
Prof Erni invites participants to join in conversation to consider a notion he posits: that people’s fates are conjoined by a state of “included-out” – something augmented by nebulous doctrines of citizenship rights as well as by legalized and informal forms of cultural racialism.
About Prof. John Nguyet Erni
John Nguyet Erni is Chair Professor in Humanities and Head of the Department of Humanities & Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University. Erni has published widely on international and Asia-based cultural studies, human rights legal criticism, Chinese consumption of transnational culture, gender and sexuality in media culture, youth consumption culture in Hong Kong and Asia, and critical public health. He was a recipient of the Rockefeller and Annenberg research fellowships. He is also an elected Fellow and Member of the Executive of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities. He is the author or editor of 9 books, most recently (In)visible Colors: Images of Non-Chinese in Hong Kong Cinema – A Filmography, 1970s – 2010s (with Louis Ho, Cinezin Press, 2016); Visuality, Emotions, and Minority Culture (forthcoming in 2016, Springer); Understanding South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong (with Lisa Leung, HKUP, 2014).
Lecture 2 –
Moral Phobia – Do good for thyself (and the market)
Date and Time: 20 September 2016 (Tuesday), 7:00pm
Venue: Connecting Space Hong Kong (Directions)
Admission: Free
Speaker: Prof. Bitten Stetter
This lecture demonstrates vividly and comprehensively how the subtly imperatives like “be modest and be pure” constantly optimise body, soul and mind in our daily life in western societies. These imperatives create inner and outer force fields that result and express themselves in the commodification of the self. The inner pressure is driven by the need to protect the purity of one’s own authenticity and morality against contamination from the in- and outside, which corresponds to the outer pressure generated by bio-political rules and regulations pushing us to sustain our physical and mental health in order to unburden governments and insurance budgets. My collection of a multitude of everyday life phenomena will explain the reveals the subtle mechanisms of neo-liberalism by reflecting the complex connections of modern, economically-charged forms of power.
About Prof. Bitten Stetter
On one hand Bitten Stetter is a freelance fashion designer. On the other hand she develops trend and style forecasts as well as design and exhibition concepts for the creative industry. Since 2003 Bitten Stetter has different university teaching positions in the fields fashion, design and trends in Germany and Switzerland. Currently she has a professorship in the field of studies Trends & Identity and is head of two programs in Master of Arts in Design: Trends and Ereignis at Zurich University oft he Arts. She also teaches at the Bachelor of Arts in Design program Style & Design.Furthermore she leads the division Research and Investigation at the branch of study at Zurich University of the Arts. The creative output of her work combined with a keen sense for “new stuff” is decisively. This manifests itself in her university positions such as in several design awards like Red Dot Award, exhibitions like fashion talks and publications like Moralphobia
About Transcultural Collaboration
Launched in 2015, Transcultural Collaboration is a programme with two central characteristics that can be experienced and explored exclusively in this unique setting. Its general focus is transcultural topics, such as traditions, identity, genealogy of the present, values, ethics, different forms of life, globalisation processes in general and between Europe and East Asia in particular.
http://www.transculturalcollaboration.com
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