“Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2023” (hereinafter referred to as “Art Macao 2023”), the mega international cultural and artistic event of the city, will be inaugurated with an opening ceremony held at the Macao Museum of Art on 28 July (Friday). This year, the event has once again invited renowned artist Qiu Zhijie, the Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, to serve as the chief curator. He will host three lectures at the Auditorium on the 1st floor of the Macao Museum of Art, introducing to the participants the thoughts behind the curation process and the updates on the international art scene.
Qiu Zhijie proposed “The Statistics of Fortune” as the theme of “Art Macao 2023”, which will emphasise the expectations and concerns brought by the development of science and technology and delve into the collision and interaction between science and religion. The lecture, entitled “Religion and Science – Curation of the Macao International Art Biennale”, will be held at 7pm on 27 July (Thursday), where the chief curator will introduce to the participants the curatorial logic behind this year’s “Art Macao”. In the lecture, the chief curator will also elaborate on several artworks that explore religious traditions from a new perspective and that delve into the history of science from profound cultural perspectives, thereby probing into the correlation and contradiction between science and religion. The lecture will be conducted in Mandarin.
At 2pm and 4pm on 29 July (Saturday), Qiu Zhijie will host two Artists’ Talks, during which artists from Macao, Portugal and Southeast Asia will be invited to discuss the relationship between contemporary art and culture. The first talk, entitled “Encounter between Macao and Portugal – The Creative Direction of Chinese and Portuguese Cultural Infusion”, features artists including Carlos Marreiros and Konstantin Bessmertny from Macao; and Fábio Colaço, Catarina Mil-Homens, Helena Mendes Pereira, and Mafalda Santos from Portugal. The second talk, entitled “Tropical Reverie – A Discussion on Southeastern Contemporary Art”, features artists including Ming Wong from Singapore, Heri Dono from Indonesia, and Khvay Samnang from Cambodia. The two talks will be conducted in English, with simultaneous interpretation in Mandarin available.
Interested parties can register through the “Activity Application” of the Macao One Account (activity.mo.gov.mo/activity-h5/) from today to 24 July. Admission is free, with a maximum of 70 participants enrolled per session. If the number of registrants exceeds the maximum number of participants, participants will be selected by random draw. For more information about the activities, please contact MAM through tel. no. 8791 9814 during the opening hours of the MAM.
Under the patronage of the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR Government, the “Art Macao 2023” is organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, co-organised by the Macao Government Tourism Office, Galaxy Entertainment Group, Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, MGM, Sands China Ltd., SJM RESORTS, LIMITED, and Wynn Macau, Limited, with the participation of various consulates general of different countries in Hong Kong and Macao and various higher educational institutions from Mainland China and Macao. The event is divided into eight sections, featuring 30 art exhibitions across the city to showcase modern and contemporary masterpieces by over 200 active and representative artists from more than 20 countries and regions.
For more information, please visit the event’s website at www.artmacao.mo, the official Instagram account “artmacao”, “IC Art” page on Facebook, or WeChat account “IC_Art_Macao”.