HKBU scholars and alumni have won four awards at the recent Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2018. They are:

Artist of the Year (Visual Arts category)
Ms Annie Wan, Assistant Professor of the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA)

Artist of the Year (Music category)
Ms Rachel Cheung, Adjunct Lecturer of the Department of Music 

Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts category)
Mr Tom Chung-man, alumnus of the Academy of Visual Arts 

Award for Young Artist (Music category)
Dr Matthew Lau, alumnus and part-time lecturer of the Department of Music 

The exhibition entitled Zan Baak Fo was Ms Annie Wan’s most overwhelming artistic project carried out over the past year. She set up the exhibition display in a grocery store in the Ping Shek Estate, where real groceries are placed and sold side by side with the art replicas, which were produced in ceramics. In contrast, these “art pieces” were sold at an extremely low price at a gallery in Sheung Wan. The project explored the concept of “does art come with a price?” and its relationship with the community.  

She said, “There are many touching stories about my teaching life and these stories have inspired me to move forward on creation. My work at the AVA has enriched my creativity which has benefited my teaching and production as well.” 

The year 2017-18 not only saw Ms Rachel Cheung performing in a number of countries including the US, Mexico, Poland, France and Korea, but also playing and conducting Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no 4 with the Orchestre de chamber de Paris at Play-Direct Academy led by Stephen Kovacevich, thereby winning the Prix du Jury.

The Breath of Excessive Reality presented at Mr Tom Chung-man’s co-exhibition in 2017-18 brings suppressed human feelings to the fore and re-examines the notion of self-existence through its “breath”.

At Dr Matthew Lau’s first solo concert VIBES! in 2017-18, he showcased the fluid character of vibraphone to the audience through traditional and contemporary music and performances with a bold twist of electronic music.