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A Place for Creativity

Local independent theatre group Rolling Puppets has recently opened their new creative base in Coloane Village, House of Puppets, and are presenting their independently curated OUT – Coloane Art Festival in June
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Local independent theatre group Rolling Puppets has recently opened their new creative base in Coloane Village, House of Puppets, and are presenting their independently curated OUT – Coloane Art Festival in June

 

 

Supporting local and independent artists and developing the creative industries has been the focus of many programs in the city over the years, and one location that should be very conducive to becoming a creative hub is Coloane village.  With its quaint alleys, colourful old residential buildings and unique cultural blend, not to mention a fascinating history of fisherman and pirates, the village is an ideal place for local artisans to work on their crafts.   Yet so far, despite some attempts by more entrepreneurial types, not much in the way of arts has successfully taken off there. 

 

Nonetheless, another new artistic venture has recently opened up in the village, with hopes of being a base for creative activity for the community.  Kevin Chio and Teng Teng Lam, founders of the Rolling Puppets Alternative Theatre, inaugurated their new House of Puppets space in March this year, right in the heart of Coloane village, immediately next to the very popular fruit and vegetable market. 

 

“It’s a magical space for us, there’s nothing like this art space anywhere else in Macau or Taipa,” says Teng Teng. “It’s so friendly here in the village and close to nature, so when tourists and locals come here, they slow down, chill out and start to talk.  They lower their defences, which is very good for creativity. You don’t get the same effect in the city. Sometimes slowing down is hard.” 

 

“We want to make our own creative agenda, and create a space for artists to come and do their work, and to connect with different artists,” adds Kevin.

 

House of Puppets has three levels, all serving very different functions.  Walking in to the ground floor Loutka Bar, visitors are greeted by a range handicraft items made by local artisans and displayed on shelves for sale, as well as the inviting aroma of Kevin’s home-made coffee,  freshly ground on site. 

 

“We do the coffee by hand and this allows people to stay longer and talk with us,” he says. “We want it to be a place where you can walk by and meet with art.”

 

“Before we were in an industrial building and usually only met the public when we did our performances, around four times a year, so it was a bit disconnected. But now that we have this place, we hope to make it more lively,” Teng Teng adds.

 

 

A narrow staircase takes you to the second level, which is an open space with tables and chairs loosely arranged for use as an artistic workshop.   The plan is to make the space available to local artists to come and work for extended periods of time on various projects as part of an artist in-residence program, but currently the duo are using it to prepare for some of their own upcoming performances.

 

“This year we have launched an open call for new projects,” says Teng Teng.  “Especially for independent artists, it’s very hard to compete for government venues, so this space is very unique. There are no other private groups in town with a base and a space, making it open to other independent artists.” 

 

“We originally planned to open it for international artists too, but of course that’s not possible right now,” notes Kevin. “It’s attractive to local Macau artists because this is not something that they are able to do everyday. So they can try to come here and see if they can get inspiration.”

 

So far, the couple have received expressions of interest from some local musicians, theatre directors, and even a magician.  

 

In the summer of 2019, Rolling Puppets collaborated with a group of artists from Mexico, Colectivo Cuerda Floja (CF Theatre), presenting an alternative theatre performance – Granny Pirate – around the streets and alleyways of Coloane village.  And since opening their new premises, they have already hosted a number of small events, including two movie screenings, talks, a bazaar, yoga practice, training for other theatre groups, teambuilding events, and pre-career training for secondary students.

 

Perhaps the most interesting part of the House of Puppets is to be found in the basement level, which houses a small but well-equipped Black Box theatre, ideal for hosting small-scale performances and shows. 

 

“We call it the ‘Out’ Box theatre,” explains Teng Teng. “It’s ‘out of town’, ‘out of the box’ and ‘Ou’ also sounds like the Chinese word for puppet.”

 

The Black Box theatre is open for people to hire and use, and even to make their own events.  Earlier this year, it was used to present locally made theatre production, Lone Together

 

“We have a theatre workshop series that has been running since 2018.  We chose seven people to write short stories and then brought them together to make a performance based around a theme,” explains Kevin. 

 

“The theme was ‘Isolation and Freedom’ because last year we had to stop almost all social activities. Some people felt very isolated, but some people felt quite free because finally they could take off their social masks and do whatever they wanted to.  We chose this topic so people could express their feelings of being lonely, what they would do when they were lonely, and what they think about loneliness.”

 

Last year was indeed a tough year for many people, and it wasn’t exactly an ideal time for the couple to try to establish their new artistic headquarters either.

 

“We started renting this space from the beginning of 2020 and then the pandemic hit and everything got messed up,” recalls Teng Teng. “But we still tried to keep it, and we renovated it throughout the year. We’ve been spending a lot of our own savings. The space itself is not sponsored by the government, so it’s really quite challenging.  The goal is to have more people to know about us and to use the space. This is how we can be sustainable.  The challenges are always related to space, human resources and financial resources.”

 

“I believe there are a lot of talented and hard working artists in the city,” adds Kevin, “and they are the reason the industry exists here. But there is no real cultural policy to bring together artists, the public and the government.   There’s not enough connection between various artistic fields.  Sometimes we are all pulling at each other, which creates tension, so there needs be more discussion, communication and sharing of ideas.” 

 

 

 

 

“This is something we would like to explore more with this space,” continues Teng Teng. “We are open to all kinds of artists and we have already met some new faces and we have found that there are people like us in all kinds of artistic areas… a little bit crazy!” she laughs. 

Despite the challenges of last year, Rolling Puppets still managed to organise the first edition of their self-curated art festival, the Puppet and Object Theatre Festival in Coloane. And they are currently planning the second edition to be held from June 12 to 27, this time entitled OUT – Coloane Art Festival.  

 

“It is ‘outside the comfort zone’ of the heavy cultural scene in Macau, and ‘outside’ the normal government run festivals… a bit like the OFF Edinburgh festival,” says Teng Teng. “Part of the funding is from the government, some from our own private funds.  We want to widen the understanding of the definition of art, so we are including different genres.”

 

 

The Festival program includes a repeat performance of Lone Together, showcases from the artist residency program, story-telling of illustration books with puppetry, a music concert, magic show and other Pop-up events.

 

“It is all self-generated content.  Sometimes there is a misunderstanding that art should serve tourism, but art doesn’t always need to function in an economic way.  It has its own creative value to society, especially when all the basic needs of people are satisfied.  And sometimes it needs to come from the grass roots.” 

 

On the final day, the Festival will wrap up with something a little different, an event entitled ART x SOUP, where people are invited to come along to cook and share their favourite soup recipes in a community feast.  

 

It may seem a little strange to include food in an art festival, but Kevin explains:  “We all need a healthy body to enjoy art.  Some people may have the idea that artists just smoke and drink, stay up all night and wake up late, so we want to show that artists can live a normal healthy life too.  This is an open call to invite people to come, not only artists, but anyone with a special recipe, and share it, because we love soup!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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