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Past Traditions, Future Visions

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In June, the city launched its first five-month long international arts and culture event, Art Macao, featuring a wide variety of exhibits by local and international artists displayed at various venues around the city including the Macao Museum of Art, a number of consulates-general, outdoor areas and all six of the major integrated resort hotels.  The range and quality of artwork on display is indeed impressive, making the city a hub of creative expression for visitors and locals alike over the busy summer months.  And for a chance to view what are likely the largest-scale exhibits on display at Art Macao, art lovers must pay a visit to MGM COTAI, where they can experience two very immersive and innovative interpretations of traditional Chinese ink painting, both with very contemporary approaches. 
 
Entitled Hua Yuan, MGM’s contribution to Art Macao tells the story of the essential roots of Chinese art and culture, reinventing the art of ink with advanced technological techniques, allowing the public to experience its beauty and wonder in ways never before seen.  This year marks a double celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Macau SAR, and thus, Hua Yuan celebrates Chinese culture by unleashing creativity, embracing diversity and stimulating mutual exchange and interaction between the public and art.
 
In her speech at the opening of the exhibition, Ms. Pansy Ho, Co-Chairperson & Executive Director of MGM China Holdings Limited noted, “As Macau is pressing ahead with establishing itself as a base for multicultural exchanges and cooperation with an emphasis on Chinese culture, Hua Yuan presents a modern artistic ink experience, which is an integral part of Chinese cultural legacy. We have invited two talented Chinese artists to create an extraordinary art experiences by using MGM Theater and the Spectacle as canvases to realize the reinterpretation of ‘ink painting’, giving arts and culture an interactive edge and at the same time, passing on the Chinese cultural heritage.”
 
Co-curated by Ms. Miriam Sun, Executive Director of the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art and MGM, Hua Yuan features the commissioned artworks of two talented contemporary artists: Jennifer Wen Ma, presenting A Metamorphosis: No End to End, a large-scale immersive multimedia and art installation at the Spectacle; and Yang Yongliang, whose Journey to the Dark II  harnesses technology and videography in a time lapse of Macau projected on the 28-million-pixel screen in MGM Theater.
 
Speaking with CLOSER after the opening of the exhibition, Cristina Kuok, Vice President of Arts & Culture of  MGM, discussed the concepts behind Hua Yuan. 
 
“We chose Chinese culture and Chinese ink, which is based on 5,000 years of history.  Ink is very much related to our roots, so we think that passing down an appreciation of ink to the next generation is very important,” Ms Kuok explains.
 
“We wanted to make use of our facilities here and these two artists present ink in very different ways.  We have the Guinness World Record Spectacle with 25 LED screens, and we have our MGM Theater which is the first of its kind in Asia.  So we immediately thought these two artists would be great, because they give different layers of experience.”
 
Taking over the space of the Spectacle, internationally renowned, multidisciplinary artist Jennifer Wen Ma’s A Metamorphosis: No End to End, is comprised of three garden landscapes, made up of thousands of meters of laser cut sheets of paper, hand sewn together in a honeycomb construction using the traditional Chinese art of accordion paper folding.  The effect creates multiple different layers as you might see in a Chinese ink painting, bringing the natural, sculptural and virtual textures together to demonstrate the versatility of ink.
 
“With this installation, the audience becomes part of the art. Because when you look down from above, the people walking through the garden installation gives the impression of a changing Chinese ink landscape,” comments Cristina Kuok. “Coupled with video content, it really appeals to all the senses and you get an appreciation for all the layers in Chinese ink painting, but in an installation format right in front of you.” 
 
The artist behind the work, Jennifer Wen Ma agrees: “Chinese landscape painting is usually ink on paper, so in this exhibition I wanted to pull something that was 2-dimensional into the 3-dimensional realm, so that it’s a landscape that you can actually walk within.  In fact from the second floor it’s like a monumental painting and the audience walking within become the little people in the traditional Chinese landscape paintings, but they are actually interacting with the space,” she commented during a discussion panel with the media. 
 
The experience of A Metamorphosis is further enhanced for the audience by the inclusion of softly coloured, illuminated LED floor panels that create a pathway through the garden.   And viewing the installation from day to night also offers a completely different visual impression. 
 
“For this work, I wanted try to push my own boundaries, but within the methodology of my art making,” Jennifer explains. “Everything is made from this very simple material, just cut paper, hand sewn together with thread. But with this very simple method, I’ve been able to make countless different forms, from the landscape to the creatures flying out from the garden.  The abstract butterflies represent the idea of a metamorphosis, and the concept that there’s no end to the creativity one can have, based on a very simple method and idea.”
 
The artist has created a number of voluminous fantastical creatures suspended from the Spectacle ceiling, and she notes that the expansive nature of the location of the exhibit played a crucial role in her creative process. 
 
“The Spectacle was a real source of inspiration for me. I wanted use the volume of the space, so the creatures fly out and up, with the idea that they might pierce through the glass ceiling and be free.” 
 
Ma has participated in many international festivals and biennials such as: Sydney Biennale, Singapore Biennial, Echigo-Tsumari Triennial, Lincoln Center Festival, Singapore International Festival of Arts, Spoleto Festival USA, Performa, among others. 
 
 
Surreal Nightscape
 
Located in MGM Theater, Yang Yongliang’s Journey to the Dark II offers visitors another very unique way to appreciate the beauty of Chinese ink painting, with a high tech twist.  The artist spent over a week filming in different locations around the city at night, ultimately combining around 40 main clips of footage to create a vast and detailed digital cityscape that unfolds and changes on the massive near-8K resolution screen in front of the viewers’ eyes, set against a background based on Song Dynasty landscape paintings.   From a distance, the scene appears quite tranquil and still, yet moving closer, the image reveals a dynamic and busy urban panorama where everything is moving, growing and transforming. 
 
“With Yang Yongliang, it is a totally immersive experience in the theatre. With the special music that was written to accompany the piece, the way he has used a black and white Macau landscape to morph into a Chinese landscape painting – it is just something that you have to experience,” comments Cristina Kuok. 
 
Hailing from Shanghai, Yang Yongliang graduated from China Academy of Art in 2003, majoring in visual communication. His work has been exhibited at Moscow Biennale, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art and National Gallery of Victoria among others, and is collected by public institutes such as the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 
“I always wanted to use advanced technology to illustrate traditional landscape paintings, Chinese art culture and art techniques,” Yang comments.  “The artwork is a dialogue between the past and the future.  When I was small, I learned calligraphy and ink painting,and then when I entered college, I started to study more about digital art. I really wanted to create a piece that combined my knowledge and skills from both these areas. And to build a bridge between the past and the future, to open up more ways for people to experience traditional Chinese art.”
 
Commenting on the venue for his artwork at MGM COTAI, the artist says: 
 
“When I first saw the high resolution panoramic screen I was very excited and impressed as it is perfect for my artwork.  Viewers can walk around and get up close to immerse themselves to become part of the art piece.”
 
 
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Besides Hua Yuan at MGM COTAI, MGM is also supporting Art Macao: International Art Exhibition with one of the outdoor art installations, Sanctuary by Macau artists João Ó & Rita Machado, displaying at the Mount Fortress Garden from June 6.  From June to October, MGM is showcasing special ink artworks at the Macao Museum of Art, the main venue of the Art Macao: International Art Exhibition. Contemporary calligraphy master, Wang Dongling presents his 18-meter-long masterpiece Drinking Alone Under the Moon by Li Bai in “chaos script” (luanshu). At the end of August, MGM will also present Paradise Interrupted, an installation opera by Jennifer Wen Ma, with Kun opera music composed by Huang Ruo, inspired by the classic Chinese play The Peony Pavilion, intertwined with elements from the story of Eve and the Garden of Eden. 
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