Art Macao 2019 | Main exhibition opens in city’s largest ever arts festival

Described as the largest art and culture festival Macau has ever witnessed, Art Macao 2019 was officially opened yesterday with the launch of the festival’s main exhibition, titled “Art Macao: International Art Exhibition”.

As previously announced by organizers, the main exhibition is a collection of artworks chosen by the seven partnering companies. These works are either exact or shrunk replicas of art pieces on show at the properties of the seven partners.

The official introduction to the exhibition, posted at the entrance, quoted educational psychologist and philosopher John Dewey, who said art is a form of experience that has connections with that from everyday life. By quoting this, organizers say that the exhibition connects with both citizens of Macau and visitors to the city.

The theme for the main exhibition is “diversity”. It is illustrated by interdisciplinary collaborations, and the various forms of presentation.

While several resort exhibitions are yet to open, viewers yesterday had access a preview of some of the works to be shown. An example is “The Universe” – or “The Vast Void” in Chinese – chosen by the SJM, created by Meng Shu, and presented in the form of glass spheres and sand scattered around a branch of Thuja, all illuminated by a foundation of LED light box. It is one in a series of works.

MGM has chosen to exhibit a large piece that covers a considerable volume of space, because it starts from the ground and extends to a partition, like branches of vines. It is named “A Metamorphosis: No End to End”, and can be liberally extended or contracted.

Selected by Nam Kwong Group, “Snow” by Gabrielle Wambaugh, is made with ceramics. Meanwhile, a dedicated space has been reserved for screening videos made by Portuguese artists.

Wynn Macau’s contribution to the festival, an exhibition titled “Garden of Earthly Delights”, was also opened yesterday at the resort operator’s Cotai property, Wynn Palace. An art gallery was especially built to accommodate the exhibition.

The company held a special talk yesterday before the opening, featuring the curator and three of the artists participating in this exhibition. The curator, Chip Tom, introduced that the name of the exhibition was inspired by a Renaissance painting made between 1490 and 1510 by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.

There was no documented explanation from the painter about the real meaning of his painting, but it’s widely speculated that it illustrates a timeline through which human beings indulge and rot.

Tom, as many others, sees it as “a celebration and warning of sin, which illustrates the beauty and sumptuousness of life, while warning us of the dangers of excess,” he said.

A pair of giant “dragon” rubber footprints was printed on the lawn next to the resort, connected in theme to the two protruding dragon heads that support the resort’s cable car.

Moving into the gallery, visitors will be greeted by two enormous, 5×6-meter LED screens, showing moving images. Turkish artist Refik Anadol named them respectively “Melting Memories” and “Macau Currents: Data Paintings”.

The former uses terrain-like images to show “the elusive process of memory retrieval into data collection.” The latter is more connected to Macau, as the artist studied the 30-day sea level along the coastline of the city and transformed the data into a sculpture.

American artist Jennifer Steinkamp “turned the thing I’m most afraid of to happiness.” In her speech at the talk, she referred to Benjamin Franklin’s contribution in finding electricity. Then she expressed her anxiety about nuclear energy and reaction, which inspired her “Silence Dogood”. It is an extensive screen showing projections of various natural elements, mainly asteroids, floating freely.

Italian Edoardo Tresoldi presents transparency with “architecture” made with wire mesh. His finished work, the Sacral, looks more like a low- resolution plotted image or an imaginary concept, than a real building. Sacral portrays a Renaissance-style architecture that has arches, columns, and a dome. Tom noted that Macau locals may relate to this work as there are many similar architectural aspects currently in the city.

Apart from the Macao Museum of Art, the main exhibition also takes place at other locations, such as the Macao Contemporary Art Centre, the Old Court Building, and OxWarehouse. The organizers say they want to spread art across the city and make Macau an art piece itself.

The main exhibition will run from now to October, while the Wynn Palace exhibition from now to October 6. Entry to both exhibitions is free of charge. Staff reporter

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