The “Ecologies of Participation” panel at the Rehearsing Futures conference showcased innovative academic practices that leverage creative collaboration to address urban and social challenges. Presented by Ashley Lee Wong, Sui Fong Yim, and Melody Yiu from CUHK, the initiative involves transdisciplinary research efforts to explore sound, urban mapping, and technology-enabled participation as means of collective knowledge production. Through panel discussions, workshops, and artistic projects, the initiative aims to bridge research and practice by fostering experiments with creative practice, technology, and urban space.
Additionally, Yiu Fai Chow, Jeroen de Kloet, and Helen Hok-sze Leung presented a project inspired by the “Complaints Choir,” proposing to transform private academic complaints into a collective, creative public performance. This experiment seeks to reclaim solidarity, liveliness, and pleasure in academic work by advocating for an “ethics of slowness” as a counter to academic corporatism. Together, these presentations highlighted alternative academic practices that emphasize collaboration, creativity, and the transformative potential of the arts in addressing societal challenges.
Critical Community Practice
The workshops exploring community practices engaged participants in diverse activities focused on care, connection, and cultural preservation. Amy Cheung’s “Kindness Investigation Bureau” used espionage-inspired methods to examine dynamics of care within academic settings, fostering collaborative analysis through participant field notes.
Stephanie Wong’s “Rehearse / Practice Listening” provided a space for open dialogue, encouraging participants to explore tension and disagreement with empathy and curiosity.
Islanders Kit Chan and Myriem Alnet’s “Mapping Care Infrastructures” invited participants to document community spatial practices on Peng Chau island, highlighting how residents adapt spaces to meet diverse needs.
Tegan Smyth’s “Visible Mending” workshop visualized the value of care work through ornamental mending techniques, teaching knowledge to enable the right to repair in more sustainable practices.
Alison Tan’s “Wrapping Histories” celebrated cultural culinary traditions by teaching participants to make zong zi, exploring how recipes serve as personal histories and adapt to migration and cultural shifts. Together, these workshops fostered a deeper understanding of community care, connection, and cultural evolution.
Final Thoughts
This transcultural conference focused on the methods and the practice of the liberal arts – where critical thinking informs creative practice, and in-depth analysis of cultural phenomenon offer insight into current trends; from observation to performance; from analysis to imagination, from reading to singing out loud, the conference explored the diverse and critical methods of the arts and social sciences that showcased work that ranged from films to fashion; built environments to urban wild life; from conflict to peace, demonstrating the transformative power of critical inquiry and creative practice both within and beyond the classroom.
In an era defined by crisis, the liberal arts has a lot to offer and remains a vital foundation for cultivating critical thinking, creativity, interdisciplinary and intercultural understanding. Rooted in centuries-old traditions yet dynamically evolving, the methods of the liberal arts empower individuals to navigate and shape the modern world with insight and integrity. In a recent interview that went viral – the Australian musician Nick Cave says “hope is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism” and perhaps that is also what scholars can do more to “make hope possible rather than despair convincing.” (Raymond Williams, 1989).
