Centre Fellow Professor Tam Wai Ping serves the Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong as an Associate Professor. He is also the chairman and one of the founders of Art Map, and works as an independent art curator. Professor Tam experiments with various media in art, but his works of installation, photography, and environmental art are more notable. His projects are varied in themes, ranging from the self to society. Professor Tam explained that his notion of art serves two approaches mainly; one allows individuals to connect with their mind and consciousness, and the other through public engagement, connects communities through lenses of art.
中心研究員譚偉平教授為香港中文大學藝術系副教授。同時，他也是藝術地圖的主席和創始人之一，並為獨立藝術策展人。譚教授在藝術中嘗試各種媒體，以他的裝置藝術、攝影和環境藝術作品尤為引人注目。他的項目主題從“自我”到“社會”，多種多樣。譚教授解釋說，他的藝術觀念主要有兩種想法：一來如何讓個人尋找自我意識並與之相連，二來通過公共參與連接人與社會的關係。
Professor Tam’s early work explores the definition of “Real”, to search the situational difference between fact and reality. He has been finding ways to contextualize history and contemporary life, exploring the relationship between “Individual and Land”, and leading to the investigation of “Modernity” in Asian values.
通過尋找事實與真實之間的情景差異，譚教授的早期創作探索何謂“真實“。他一直在尋找歷史與當代生活之間的脈絡，探討“人和土地”的關係，並以亞洲價值的觀點理解“現代性”的意義。
His more recent interests examine relationships between “Text”, “Object” and “Image” which re-evaluates how art can serve as a cognitive experience. His installation in 2015 entitled “Dream No Dream” is the outcome of his experimentations to find epiphany by observing other people’s lives through their sleep. In the spring of 2007, he went to Tokyo and entered the homes of local people at night to quietly watch them sleep. Through this he came to realise that there was love (craving), suffering, ignorance, clinging and birth in lives, but still he has not achieved enlightenment and he found life to be but a bigger dream beyond a dream. Wakefulness is only another big dream, but people tend to think they have already achieved awakening. He recognises there are true images, awareness, awakening and death in a dream. In “Dream No Dream” these are put in four different rooms for the audience to interpret on their own.
他最近的研究興趣是“文本”、“物件”和“影像”三者間的關係，反思藝術如何作為一種認知的體驗。他在2015年的裝置作品（題為“夢非夢”）是他通過靜觀別人睡覺所得到的頓悟。於2007年春，他去到東京，並在晚上進入當地人的家中，靜靜地觀看他們睡覺。通過這次經驗，他開始意識到生命中有愛（渴望）、苦、癡、取(執著)、生，反觀自己卻未能得到大覺，領悟人生其實只是一場夢外之大夢。覺醒只是另一個大夢，但人們往往認為他們已經醒覺。他意識到，夢中有真相、覺、悟和死亡。在“夢非夢”的裝置作品中，以上四個元素被分佈於四室，以供觀眾自我領會。
Caption: Dream No Dream by Tam Wai Ping. Artist Statement: A dream is where we want to clarify what is unclear; reality is where we do not want to clarify what is already too clear… (Photo Credit: Tam Wai Ping)
圖片說明：夢非夢 – 譚偉平作品。藝術家陳述：夢是那種不清楚而想弄清楚之事，而現實是那種太清楚，但不想弄清楚的事情… …（圖片來源：譚偉平）
In his other curatorial projects engaging with the community, Prof Tam invited artists to create sculptures and installations as a way of bridging communities. For example, in the “Wishing Tree” project at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, the public write and hang cards of encouragement on the tree, bringing much hope and strength to children patients who are on their journey of recovery.
在他與社區合作的其他策展項目中，譚教授邀請藝術家創作雕塑和裝置，以作為鏈接社區的橋樑。例如，在香港兒童醫院的“許願樹”項目中，公眾在樹上寫下並懸掛鼓勵卡片，給那些正在復甦的兒童帶來希望和力量。
Caption: Wishing Tree by David Rittinger. (Photo credit: Tam Wai Ping)
文字說明：許願樹 - David Rittinger 作品（圖片來源：譚偉平）
Professor Tam has also invited a group of ceramics artists—Fiona Wong, Ray Chan, Ben Yau, and Connie Tsang to create the artwork “Ceramic Leaves”, in order to allow the public to be more in touch with nature and to understand the local floras and insects.
譚教授還邀請了一群陶瓷藝術家- 黃麗貞、陳思光、丘文彬及曾秀英一同創作了“陶瓷葉子”，以便讓公眾能夠更了解大自然和本地的昆蟲植物。
Caption: Ceramic Leaves by Fiona Wong, Ray Chan, Ben Yau, and Connie Tsang (Photo credit: Tam Wai Ping)
文字說明：陶瓷葉子 - 黃麗貞、陳思光、丘文彬及曾秀英作品（圖片來源：譚偉平）
More details of Professor Tam’s projects can be found on website of Department of Fine Arts, CUHK: http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~fadept/?academic-staffs=%E8%AD%9A%E5%81%89%E5%B9%B3&lang=zh-hant
有關譚教授項目的更多詳情，請瀏覽香港中文大學藝術系網站：http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~fadept/?academic-staffs=%E8%AD%9A%E5%81%89%E5%B9%B3&lang=zh-hant
Professor Tam’s company website, Art Map can be found here: http://www.artmap.xyz/tw/index.php
譚教授的公司網站Art Map可以在這裡找到：http://www.artmap.xyz/tw/index.php