Research Diary 2 Statement of Intent

A culture is a way of life of a group of people: the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. Culture consists of many subculture groups who share different value, belief, behavior and interest to the mainstream group. It is important for us to understand why subculture is constructed. Some stated that subculture groups usually form due to the need for escape from the mainstream of society to seek for new meanings of objects. I am going to prove it by studying one of the subculture groups in this research. A Chinese word of “Art geek “ comes around a lot in the past few years, what exactly is “art geek”? This research allows me and people to learn about what this subculture and subculture identity are, what the social group is and to find out how Cattle Depot Artist Village become a space of subculture. Cattle Depot Artist Village (CDAV) is an artists’ village which was confirmed a Grade II historic building by the Antiquities Advisory Board in 2009. Its red-brick buildings housing studios and exhibition halls where located 20 art organizations. The organizations in CDAV hold regular exhibitions of high-quality local and international art, as well as concerts and theatrical performances. My research question is how does Cattle Depot Artist Village be a space of subculture and how subculture and subcultural identity are constructed. A field observation and interview will be conducted in Cattle Depot Artist Village in To Kwa Wan. The findings of field observation include the number of visitors, the number of exhibitions and performances in a day, social group or individual, specific gender, age group, ethnic group, any specific fashion style and behavior pattern. 15 visitor semi-structured interviews will be conducted to record their values, beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, what bring them here, the way of they get certain information, experience at CDAV with description and their everyday life. Another 5 organization interviews will be conducted to understand their contribution for this subculture, their achievements, facing issue and promotion method. Next, I will also begin to compile a detailed description of the subcultural group by focusing on a single event to record environment, behavior and thought. To avoid personal bias, journals and studies will be read. Student Name: Chan Nga Yin