Macau Design Biennial to welcome fewer mainland submissions

James Chu (left) and Hong Ka Lok

The submission period for the 11th Macau Design Biennial has begun and will be open until June 30, as revealed at a press conference last week at the Macau Design Center (MDC).

So far, over 550 pieces have been submitted to the competition for consideration, and more than 2,000 are expected before the submission period comes to a close.

The head of the organizing team behind the 11th Macau Design Biennial, Hong Ka Lok, said at the press conference that MDC expected fewer entries this year but they would be representative of a greater variety of countries worldwide.

Meanwhile, James Chu, the chairman of the Macau Designers Association and the curator of MDC, explained the greater representation by highlighting that there would be fewer entries from mainland China this year.

“In the last biennial, we received a lot of entries from mainland China – around 6,000. But this year, we have made some changes. We don’t expect the same huge number of entries, [instead] we expect a higher quality [of the entries],” he told the Times.

“It is hard to say [at the moment] the proportion of the designers [who are] local to the city,” said Chu when asked about local participation. “Macau is a very small city, with only a few thousand designers. Compare that to Hong Kong, with over 80,000 [designers] or Shenzhen with 240,000.”

He said that he expects just 5 to 10 percent of the submitted works to be approved by the international judging panel. “The judges select very seriously,” said Chu. “Only 100 to 200 pieces will be chosen maximum, I believe.”

Founded by the Macau Designers Association, the Macau Design Biennial has been held every two years since 1994 and is now in its 11th edition, according to organizers. Some of the award-winning works will be collected in the permanent collections of the Macau Museum of Art, while others will be shown at the Handover Gifts Museum of Macau from the day of the Grand Awards Ceremony.

An MDC representative told the Times last week that at least one exhibition from the competition will be held in December. DB

MDC vacancies to open in August

The curator of the Macau Design Center (MDC) told the Times last week that some of the rental units in the organization’s incubator program will become available from August this year. “Some of the companies have now reached their three-year [maximum] working partnership with us, so in August some of the vacancies will reopen to the public,” said James Chu. “Of course, some of those companies can reapply, but they have to compete with new companies.” He also added that the MDC is currently operating at maximum capacity, but is required by the Cultural Industries Fund to open the incubator space to new organizations at least every three years. The incubator program invites local design companies to rent office and creative spaces at below-market rates, in order to help support the fledgling industry. Asked whether he thinks some of these companies will reapply, Chu said: “I think yes [they will], because everyone is quite happy working here. There are over 100 designers working here, so it is like a community.”