Chak Kwong LAU, Dr

Chak Kwong Daniel LAU (PhD in Chinese art history, University of California, Santa Barbara & M.Phil. in Chinese art history, The University of Hong Kong) is Associate Professor and Associate Director (Research) of the Academy of Visual Arts, School of Creative Arts, HKBU. He has served as a Visiting Scholar both at Peking University and at Academic Sinica, Taipei. Before joining HKBU, he taught at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and the University of California (UCSB) where he received the GSA Outstanding Teaching Award Honorable Mention in Humanities and Fine Arts.  At HKBU, he is currently the Principal Supervisor of a Postdoctoral Fellow under the Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS) of Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), and two PhD students under Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) of the RGC. He is the recipient of Faculty/ School Performance Award in Teaching (Hong Kong Baptist University, 2012), and Faculty/ School Performance Award of Outstanding Young Researcher (HKBU, 2011). He serves as the Examiner of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Member of the China Calligraphers Association (中國 書 法 家 協 會), and Council Member of China Calligraphers Association Hong Kong Branch (中國書協香港分會). He has served as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Macau, Arts Advisor (Arts Education) of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Member of CDC-HKEAA (One) Committee on Visual Arts (Senior Secondary) under the Curriculum Development Institute and Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority of Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

Lau pursues research as both a scholar and an artist. He is an art historian specialising in Chinese art, Chinese calligraphy, seal engraving, art and identity in late imperial China, and Hong Kong calligraphy, with focuses on social and cultural implications of Chinese calligraphy, as well as modes of expression and representation in Chinese calligraphy, calligraphic materiality and multimodality. He has been serving as the Principal Investigator of many projects funded by major research grants (including 3 General Research Funds (GRF) from the Research Grant Council (RGC) of Hong Kong: “Calligraphic Materiality and Multimodality: Modes of Expression and Representation in Chinese Calligraphy and their Dynamics with Contexts of Use in the City of Hong Kong”, “Social and Cultural Implications of Chinese Calligraphy in Public Venues in Hong Kong”, and “Chinese Calligraphy in Twentieth-Century Hong Kong: Viewing Art from Cultural, Social, and Economic Perspectives”), totally over HK$2.3 million. He has published more than fifty research outputs, including monographs on Chinese calligraphy and seal engraving, book chapters, refereed articles in international journals and conference proceedings, and exhibition catalogue entries on Chinese art, including contributions to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Proceedings of the Symposium on Artworks by Ming Loyalists in Early Qing Dynasty, and Double Beauty: Qing Dynasty Couplets from the Lechangzai Xuan Collection I & II.  His works have been recognized with research awards such as Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies (2019). His academic leadership role includes being the Reviewer for Cambria Press’s publication of a major refereed monograph on the history of Chinese calligraphy (New York, over 200 pages). He was invited to serve as Associate Editor of The International Journal of Arts Theory and History (2014). He was also invited as the Session Chair for refereed paper presentation at the International Conference on Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies (2019).

Lau is an established artist whose practice encompasses Chinese calligraphy, seal engraving and large-scale site-specific and site-responsive performances of Chinese calligraphy at historic monuments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eIidr0z1aI , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of0jg_DJvZQ ) and in public spaces organized by major museums such as Hong Kong Museum of Art (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb5Qsho6qYY ) and Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZeuIUb7LVg ) , also in natural landscapes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHmIoBBB-cg ). He has held 8 solo exhibitions in the United States, Hong Kong and Macau and participated in numerous influential group exhibitions at local and international museums and galleries. His calligraphic works and seal engravings are in public collections, including those of the Art Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Lau pursues research as both a scholar and an artist. His research interests include Chinese art history and theory; art and identity in late imperial China and Hong Kong; Chinese calligraphy in public spaces; Hong Kong calligraphy; social and cultural implications of Chinese calligraphy; modes of expression and representation in Chinese calligraphy; calligraphic materiality and multimodality; inter-relationships amongst art, spirituality and religious devotion; Practice-based research in Chinese calligraphy; seal engraving and contemporary Chinese art; site-specific and site-responsive peformance of Chinese calligraphy. 

At HKBU, Dr. Lau is currently the Principal Supervisor of a Postdoctoral Fellow under the Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS) of Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), and two PhD students under Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) of the RGC.