Ling U

Master of Arts in Curating and Art History

INTERNSHIP

Internship experience is essential for future leaders in the field of curating and art history. The MACAH Programme has worked with the following local and overseas arts organizations on internship course, tailored after students’ interests and the needs of institutions:

• Shanghai Museum
• Asia Art Archive
• Asia Society Hong Kong Center
• Hong Kong Art Centre
• Para Site
• University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
• Chamber of Young Snow Art Exhibition Hall
• Hong Kong Maritime Museum

In this summer, I had my internship experience in CHAT. It was such a valuable opportunity for me to join the Learning and Community team during the two-months internship. My role in the team is to provide support to learning and community events, handle archival material and assist administrative tasks. Especially, providing on-site support in the interactive space is also one of my major responsibilities during the internship. From 1 May to 5 August 2021, CHAT has organized an exhibition to explore the common thread of code, textile and care, Interweaving Poetic Code. In coincide with the exhibition, an international discussion forum, participatory installations, workshops and performances were held. A gallery was also transformed into an interactive learning space, called the Unlearning Space, to allow visitors to experience a series of hand-on activities which aim to deliver the message of a decentralised and reciprocal process of co-learning and co-existing with our surroundings and communities. This is also where I got to build up a relationship with all the visitors during my duty.

Other than some practical art administration skills that I could obtain, I could also deepen my understanding of the theories learnt from the lesson with my experience in the interactive space. For certain, lectures in school deliver the ideal theoretical framework for us to picture being a curator or a museum educator. Interacting with the visitors gave me many profound moments to think of the meaning behind museum learning, the importance of the leadership and what the obstacles are for being a curator or a museum educator. For instance, the Participatory Museum proposed by Nina Simon offers us a great picture of how museum could achieve the highest level of interaction. Yet, factors like the action of different staff, the cultural background of visitors could also vary visitors’ experience and learning outcome. Perhaps, these are not obstacles but a chance for us to keep improving the education of a museum.

As I want to develop my career in the arts and cultural field in Hong Kong, insights gained from these experiences lead me to look into future not only locally but also globally. Time flies in a blink of an eye. I wish I could experience and obtain even more in this internship. Still, it is a milestone for me to begin my road of the arts and culture.

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