Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA)

Robert F. Eberle invented SCAMPER based on Alex Osborn’s idea of the checklist method of brainstorming.

Introduction to SCAMPER

Discussion

Appreciation and discussion

Conceptual art became popular in Europe and America in the 1970s.

Introduction to Conceptual Art

Video Viewing and appreciation

Artist Introduction

Resource Kit Overview

Based on the HKMoA collection, this series, ‘In Touch with Hong Kong Artists’, provides education materials and activity sets designed with the aim to raise the interest in artists and art and culture in Hong Kong. In this resource kit, Pak Sheung-chuen will be introduced.

In Touch with Hong Kong Artists: Pak Sheung-chuen

Visual Arts

The Arts

I went to the supermarket and purchased eight products. If you read the second word of each product on the shopping receipt from top to bottom, you get the following (in Chinese): …whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The artist thought that we cannot fully prove the existence or non-existence of God with rationality and logic, so he tried to do it in the opposite way. With the use of irrational, illogical and random methods, the artist raised the question:

How many “miracles” have been caused by humans?

On 13 November 2003, the artist went to the CRC supermarket near Garden Rivera in Shatin and purchased eight products. He arranged the sequence of the products for the shopkeeper to scan the barcodes so that when we read the second word of each product on the shopping receipt from top to bottom, we get the following (in Chinese): …whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The media of the artwork included the actions, words, photos and shopping receipt.

The artist arranged the sequence of the products to be scanned by the cashier so that the second words of the scanned products would form a meaningful phrase. 

The artist’s manipulation behind the mechanical process presents a question regarding religion: whereas things may seem to be part of God’s arrangement, very often, they have been arranged by humans. The artist expressed his doubt about religion through the artwork.

What is/are the form(s) of artistic expression?

How is it different from traditional artworks (such as paintings and sculptures)?

What do you think is the message behind the artwork?

How would you describe the artist’s creative process?

What do you think about Pak’s conceptual art?

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

In Touch with Hong Kong Artists: Pak Sheung-chuen

Appreciation and discussion

Background Knowledge

Organising and recording the information