How to join McDonald’s Radio University
McDonald’s Radio University is a project that transforms branches of McDonald’s restaurants across a city into lecture spaces, creating a citywide university. The professors are immigrants or refugees who have had to leave their home countries, and the students are people who walk into a McDonald’s and order a lecture along with a burger and a coke. The McDonald’s Radio University at Tai Kwun Contemporary takes place not in an actual McDonald's restaurant, but in an exhibition space. The “professors” this time are people living in Hong Kong, and in addition to 3 new lectures created with them, there are 14 recorded lectures selected from 30 subjects delivered in Frankfurt, Berlin, Tokyo and Kanazawa. To listen to the lectures, scan the QR code and visit the website.
Registration Guideline
Open Lectures
Photography
Professor: Leeh Ann
Migration and Connection: Through the Lens of a Domestic Worker
A former Filipino secondary school teacher turned domestic worker finds her voice through capturing self-defining moments in the streets of Hong Kong, a place she now calls home.
Pedagogy
Professor: Maxamuud
Founding a school in a stateless countryting
A Somali teacher tells the story of founding a local, free school from scratch at wartime and the challenges he encountered teaching liberal arts at a conflicted land.
Socially Engaged Practice
Professor: Harmony
Fashion as a Platform for Social Change
A 21 year-old Congolese college student talks about navigating Hong Kong’s fashion industry as a female black model and building brighter futures for the talented ethnic minorities.
Literature
Professor: Yohachi Nakajima
Me and The Tale of the Heike
A Japanese war orphan in China tells the trajectory of a wavering life between Japan and China along with the classic Japanese literature "The Tale of the Heike".
Criminology
Professor: Wang Nan
If Evil Gives Birth to Good, Is Evil Good?
The second generation of Japanese war orphans in China talks about the formation of a street gang group "Dragon" and the knowledge of life after spending more than 20 years in prison.
Activism
Professor: Napuli
Conquering Public Space
An activist from Sudan talks about appropriation and visualization methods in public space and traces the links between activist tactics and military strategies.
Media Studies
Professor: Hala
Radio as a Freedom Medium
Based on the activities of the poet Tin Moe and the radio pioneer Eugene McDonald, an expert from Aleppo discusses future possibilities of the radio medium.
Journalism
Professor: Aboud
Nizar Nayouf and the Search for Truth
A Syrian expert talks about journalist and historian Nizar Nayouf, the situation in the Syrian media and the role of journalism.
Architecture
Professor: Haya
The Future of Ruins | Die Zukunft der Ruinen
An architect from Aleppo deals with the term “ruin” and imagines Aleppo's future urban planning based on visionary suggestions.
Risk Management
Professor: Saeed
What's the biggest risk in life? | Was ist das größte Risiko im Leben?
An industrial diver from Iran translates his professional experience into general risk avoidance strategies and explains what is the greatest risk in life.
Urban Research
Professor: Awal
Survival Strategies in Urban Space
A professional strategist from Burkina Faso describes alternative survival strategies in the city and shares his special experiences and knowledge.
Sports Science
Professor: Fusein
Running to Survive
A former professional runner from Ghana recounts how he started running and speaks about the secrets and phenomenology of running.
Business
Professor: Mylène
From Zero to Ten!
Against the background of her own experiences, a hairdresser from Cameroon reports about strategies of business development and forms of emancipation.
Biology
Professor: Okbai
Biology and People's Perspective
An Eritrean scholar and former teacher explains the relationship between science, religion and life taking the example of Evolution Theory and Biotechnology.
Philosophy
Professor: Nasir
Building Dwelling Thinking
A business scholar from Afghanistan reads Martin Heidegger's lecture and expands on it with new possibilities of "building-dwelling-thinking" and of the assembly.
Hygienics
Professor: Alina
The Use of Hygiene in Political Speech
An artist of Syrian and Ukrainian origin explores religious and social purification rituals and their influence on the political use of language.
Gender Studies
Professor: Keith
Symphony of Dissonance: African Transfeminist Perspectives
The lecture introduces the concept of transfeminism and explores its relation to postcolonial developments. Personal experiences, as well as diverse theoretical references are included by the Ugandan lecturer.
ARTIST
Akira Takayama / Port B
Born in 1969. In 2002, he formed the theater company Port B, and since then has been producing installations, touring performances and social experiments utilizing urban spaces as a way of engaging with cities and societies across the world. In recent years, collaboration with those from other fields including visual art, tourism, literature, urban planning, and education has been the scope of his practice which has been broadening further, and he has applied his theatrical thoughts to opening up new possibilities in a variety of fields.
INFORMATION
McDonald’s Radio University
Hong Kong edition
Site-specific interactive installation
Dates
Summer 2020
Venue
Tai Kwun Contemporary
Open Hours
Monday 2pm-8pm
Tuesday to Sunday 11am-8pm
Web
taikwun.hk
Credits
Concept/Direction: Akira Takayama
Professors in HK:
Dholeeh Ann A. Hidalgo (Leeh Ann), Harmony IIunga, Maxamuud
Editor: Hallie Tam
Space Design: Keigo Kobayashi
Web Design: Hironori Oooka
Translation: Teresa Bernauer, Dino Rib, Azusa Suga, Heiwa Wong
Narrator: Daniel Ho, Ka Ki Ma, Hallie Tam
Recording: Martin Lai (Marsical Label)
Sound Editing: Masahiro Ugajin
Cooperation: Kaoru Ueda
Assistant Direction/Production Management: Saki Tanaka
Production Management: Erin Li (Tai Kwun Contemporary)
Special Thanks: Learning Together, Resolve Foundation
Commissioned by Tai Kwun Contemporary, 2020
The project started in 2017 at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and across seven McDonald’s stores in Frankfurt, Germany.