Over 100 Attend Sands China’s Art Macao Seminar by Local Artist Ung Vai Meng

Sands China held a seminar Sept. 16 at the Macao Museum of Art titled Behind the Forms: The Essence of Contemporary Art, featuring professor Ung Vai Meng, a prominent scholar and local artist – as part of Art Macao 2023.

The free-admission event drew the attendance of local artists, art students from higher educational institutions, and the general public. Co-organised by the Macau Artist Society and coordinated by Macau Youth Art Association, it was held as an extended academic event in tandem with Behind the Forms: Aesthetics of Contemporary Art – Trio Exhibition by Lei Ieng Wai, Leong Chi Mou and Lai Sio Kit, a collateral exhibition of Art Macao being held at Sands Gallery until Sunday.

Besides inviting Ung to deliver the Behind the Forms seminar, Sands China commissioned him to create a work of his own for Art Macao. Titled The Genesis of Rationality, it is currently on display at Art Macao’s Invitational Exhibition by Local Artists at the Macao Cultural Centre.

Lok Hei, president of the Macau Artist Society, said: “Since the opening of the exhibition ‘Behind the Forms: Aesthetics of Contemporary Art,’ a good number of individuals within the art community have shown a keen interest in the innovative expressions of young artists from Macao.”

The event was moderated by Kitman Leong, curator of the exhibition. In the first part, Ung led a seminar delving into the profound significance of contemporary art by examining the ideas put forth by ancient Greek culture and Western philosophers such as Plato.

The second part of the event offered profound insights into the works of the three young local artists. Ung also had a panel discussion with the exhibition’s artists Leong Chi Mou and Lai Sio Kit, coordinator Julia Lam Tsz Kwan, and curator Kitman Leong, encouraging the audience to collectively explore the fundamental questions that arise in contemporary art.

Sands China is also supporting Art Macao 2023 with a special exhibition titled Meet the Magic: In celebration of Disney 100 by Philip Colbert and Jason Naylor.