Culture | New exhibition seeks to encourage art and design graduates

A new exhibition opened yesterday at the Regency Art Hotel seeks, not only to showcase the works of recently graduated, local art and design students, but also to demonstrate the creativity of young, overseas artists. Organizers say that they want to establish Macau as the “Young Arts Capital,” or what they describe as “a center for the new generation of arts and culture in Asia.”
The “First Macau Art Graduates Joint Exhibition ‘Y Show’,” which will run until Friday, is co-
organized by Chiu Yeng Culture Ltd. and Chiii Design Ltd, and aims to promote the cultural arts industry.
At yesterday’s opening, Mann Lao, a branding designer from Macau and co-founder of Chiii Design, and Sabrina Ho, the founder and managing director of Chiu Yeng Culture, discussed the exhibition in front of an audience of reporters.
Targeting primarily local students, Mann said that the exhibition will aid students in “absorbing and learning the trendiest creative ideas from all over the world.”
“Students, especially local students, should proactively take the responsibility for the future of Macau’s design environment and pay more attention to learning modern design techniques and skills in order to expand their vision,” he added.
The first edition of the exhibition has invited students from five local education institutions: the University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, University of Saint Joseph, and City University of Macau.
Additionally, several participants come from the Hong Kong Designers Association, National Taiwan Normal University, China Academy of Art, Kuwasawa Design School and Berlin University of the Arts.
Organizers wrote in a statement that the purpose behind this collaboration is to
“stimulate the exchange of knowledge and ideas between local higher education institutions and overseas design institutions [… acting] as a medium through which the new generation of artists can interact.”
Additionally, the event also seeks to provide a platform for local businesses, including hotel and casino operators, to recruit sought after designers for their properties and the amenities inside them, according to Ho.
Ho said that she hopes the exhibition “inspires local fresh graduates [to consider a career in design] before they enter into the job market […] to assist in discovering future paths for young people.”
“This exhibition enables commercial enterprises to have a different vision on the nurturing role of the market toward the development of the design industry,” added Mann yesterday, leading to “a better design environment [and the promotion of] better quality design in Macau.”
Organizers also announced that numerous world-famous designers have been invited to the exhibition, including Katsumi Asaba, a notable designer from Japan and the current president of the Japan Graphic Designers Association; Jianping He, whose works have been awarded the gold and silver prize at the International Poster Biennial in Warsaw; and Fons Matthias Hickmann, who is a graphic designer, author and professor at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Six design seminars will be held over the next few days on topics relating to the development of design art in Macau.