HKDSE Visual Arts case studies
HKDSE Visual Arts · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Visual Arts is a Category A senior secondary subject under the HKDSE, administered by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA). It is designed for senior secondary students in Hong Kong who are preparing for the HKDSE, typically as part of their school curriculum, and who wish to have their achievement in visual arts recognised for further study or employment. The HKDSE Visual Arts case studies are 5 cases and about 3,317 words.
1The Honest Portrait: Comparing an Uncertain Painting with an Editioned Photograph
A candidate preparing a 900-word comparative essay for the appreciation and criticism component has chosen two portraits from the school archive. Work A is an undated oil painting labelled 'after Rembrandt, 19th century?'; the archive file records no provenance beyond a 1998 donation.
681 words, about 3 min2Charcoal Under Humidity: Flattening, Fixing and Mounting a Large Drawing
A candidate is making a 1.2 m × 0.9 m charcoal drawing on 200 gsm cartridge paper for a school exhibition that opens in ten days and runs for five days in a covered outdoor corridor. The corridor is open to humid air: forecasts give 85% relative humidity and 30°C, with occasional wind-driven rain.
658 words, about 3 min3Web of Voices: Testing Whether Participation Is Structural in a Courtyard Installation
A student proposes a five-day site-specific installation, 'Web of Voices', for the school courtyard: 600 m of red cotton yarn wrapped between eight trees and two railings, with 30 blank cards and pens inviting visitors to write wishes and tie them to the web. The courtyard measures 12 m × 8 m and has one covered walkway; the open area is exposed to monsoon rain and wind.
688 words, about 3 min4The Linocut Edition: Numbering, Rejects and the Limits of Artist's Proofs
A candidate must submit an edition of 12 signed and numbered linocut prints for moderation. The image is 20 cm × 15 cm on 28 cm × 22 cm cartridge paper (180 gsm), printed with water-based ink.
638 words, about 3 min5Generated Frames: Authorship and Disclosure in an AI-Assisted Projection
A candidate submits a 2.5 m wide animated projection for the school-based assessment. The three-minute loop combines 60 photographs taken by the candidate with frames produced by a text-to-image model; about 40% of the final frames are AI-generated.
652 words, about 3 min