Museum of Art strengthens art promotion activities

Chan Hou Seng (center)

The Macau Museum of Art (MAM) presented  its program highlights for 2015 yesterday. The director, Chan Hou Seng, said that the museum intends to enforce its art education programs through measures like converting its ground floor into an art recreation area for kids and continuing to organize art courses tutored by local artists.
In 2015, a total of 18 exhibitions will be showcased. Some of those will focus on the museum’s collection as organized thematically. These will include abstract paintings, portraits, 19th-century historical paintings, prints and old photos. But there are also “world-class exhibitions” scheduled for this year. The highlights of the contemporary shows to be exhibited this year include video installations by the renowned French artist Robert Cahen (between June and September), as well as works by Zhou Chunya, a popular Chinese contemporary artist (between October and January 2016).
As usual, several local artists will present their works through the ‘Macau Arts Window’ project. MAM will also continue its annual exhibition series: ‘Calligraphy, Painting, and Seal Carving of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,’ which presents works by two iconic masters of the 19th century; and ‘Treasures from the Palace Museum,’ showcasing the beauty of architecture in the Forbidden City.

The museum workshop’s facilities

Overall, Chan Hou Seng said that the museum is trying “to create conditions for public participation according to their needs and tastes. It is important to get people inspired, as culture vitality is essential in the process of urban development.” He stressed that the museum “is not only a space for presenting artworks and cultural relics, but also a space where people can be enlightened through co-participation, direct experience and informal learning.”
Chan Hou Seng also made a review of the work that was developed last year. He said that the MAM organized 26 exhibitions in 2014 and received a total of 360,000 visitors, marking a year-on-year increase of 30 percent. The director stressed that the local museum has cooperated with internationally renowned museums like the Louvre Museum, the Palace of Versailles, the Musée d’Orsay and the Pompidou Centre. He highlighted that MAM organized the first international exhibition of art education in Macau, ‘Art Arena – Project from Centre Pompidou,’ which he deemed to be “a remarkable experience for viewers,” turning the museum “into an interactive playground.”
MAM also organized nearly 900 parallel art exploring programs last year, including guided tours, creative workshops, art courses, talks by experts, thematic study, exchange programs for tertiary schools and academic symposiums. According to the calculation made by the museum, more than 27,000 people took part in these activities, “including children, parents, art enthusiasts, art educators, artists, experts and people with impaired vision.”
Several art course instructors spoke at the media gathering yesterday. Artist James Wong has been teaching at the museum for over ten years. He stressed that the museum began to develop facilities for education in 2006, and has been expanding them ever since.
“The museum’s educational facilities can be compared to those in universities,” he said. “Those facilities enable students to experience every kind of printmaking method.”

Director praises management change to IC

The museum’s budget for this year will remain the same as in 2014, amounting to MOP40 million, according to Chan Hou Seng. Asked about the transfer of the museum’s management from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) to the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), the director said that it’s an ongoing process, but a date has not yet been established to realize the transfer. However, he said that the staff and organizational chart are expected to remain the same. “Since the IC has a lot of resources and cultural venues, I think that the museum will be able to provide a better service to the public after the change,” he said.