WORLD-CLASS ARTS
In its final month, the inaugural Art Macao festival is a citywide celebration of Chinese and international creativity and culture.
Projections of asteroids. A Renaissancestyle dome crafted from wire mesh. A large-scale wooden sculpture that resembles a skull-headed Mickey Mouse —These are perhaps not the first things that spring to mind when you think of Macau. But over the last four months, the city has been transformed into an art-lover’s paradise, with hundreds of thought-provoking sculptures, paintings, multimedia works, and performances popping up around town, showcased in exhibitions and events as part of the inaugural edition of Art Macao ( until Oct. 31; artmacao.com).
Conceptualized as a way to celebrate Macau’s history—which this year includes the 20th anniversary of the former Portuguese colony’s establishment as a Special Administrative Region of China—the five-month international art extravaganza is the largest and longest festival of its kind to be hosted here. And everyone from glitzy hotels to worldclass galleries and foreign consulates has been involved, some even crafting custom spaces to hold creations from a globetrotting group of artists.
By the end of October, the festival will have presented more than 41 events across 55 venues. This month alone, there are around 20 exhibits to check out, including the headlining spectacle "Art Macao: International Art Exhibition," for which the entire second floor of the Macao Museum of Art has become a cocoon for visual arts. If you’re a fan of Chinese art, this is your chance to glimpse some 90 works borrowed from the National Art Museum of China.
In parallel, the Macao Museum of Art has called in an astounding selection of works by late artist Chen Zhifo, known globally for his intricate paintings of flowers and birds. Because of his regional appeal, Chen’s creations will be on display in the exhibition “Quietness and Clarity” for an additional 11 days after the official festival concludes (until Nov. 11).
Held across both the Macao Museum of Art and the gallery space at No. 55-57 Avenida do Coronel Mesquita over the festival period is the second installation of the Annual Art Exhibition between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. As its long name suggests, the event was created as a way to celebrate the rich links between Macau and Portugal through visual mediums, not to mention a series of workshops and lectures.
You don’t even need to leave your hotel to find creative inspiration in Macau this month. If you’ve checked in to Morpheus at the City of Dreams, you’ll find that Mickey Mouse– inspired sculpture at the hotel’s Art on 23 gallery; titled Good Intentions, the piece is by American pop artist KAWS. Meanwhile, over at the Wynn Palace in Cotai, you can take in the “Garden of Earthly Delights,” an exhibition of installations and digital art pieces including Herb Alpert’s Spirit Totems Series and Refik Anadol’s hypnotic Melting Memories, a five-meter-high media wall of “data” sculptures driven by custom software. And then at Sands Resorts Macao, you can pay homage to one of China’s greatest artistic achievements: ceramics. Curated by notable potter Caroline Cheng, the “All That’s Gold Does Glitter” exhibition features more than 80 ceramic masterpieces by 20 global artists, including Cheng’s own Prosperity: a ceramic dress covered by thousands of ceramic butterflies.