This mustn’t stop

by

Every week new films hit the screens, hundreds of books fill shelves around the world, innumerable albums and songs jump onto MP3’s or CD players, art exhibitions present the latest trends in contemporary art and stages host all kinds of live shows.

Of all the things being generated out there, Macau audiences get the chance to access a tiny part of it. To be fair, that tiny share has grown in recent years. One thing seems to be clear: Macau today has a bigger cultural offer than it did five years ago. Also, if there’s something positive about technology breakthroughs it’s that they have made it conceivable for us to watch, read and listen to things we wouldn’t even have dreamed of years ago.

However, just because you have more of something, doesn’t necessarily make it good. There are piles of overrated and uninteresting art manifestations, inside and outside Macau. As Roland Barthes taught us, “the bastard form of mass culture is humiliated repetition: always new books, new programs, new films, news items, but always the same meaning”.

So, how can we ensure that this cultural breeze reaching Macau is the right one? There is no formula, but what we certainly need is intelligent, well-informed and sensitive people doing the programming for our artistic institutions.

This is to say that the minds that decided to invite Laurie Anderson to Macau, as part of the Macao International Music Festival, deserve a round of applause because they hit the spot, by bringing one of the most significant contemporary artists to the city. And at the same time they also managed to invite the St. Petersburg Orchestra, and to bring one of Broadway’s most famous shows. You have to be clever if you want to put together an eclectic program without overlooking quality. The Macao International Music Festival seems to have achieved that goal.

As for Laurie Anderson, just by reading the exclusive interview she gave to CLOSER, you can get a sense of what this remarkable woman has done and is still doing art wise, questioning herself and all of us, stimulating our minds, moving from politics to the deepest corners of her personal existence. She’ll certainly share a bit of that with Macau audiences next month, giving them something they deserve to get more often – quality.

The city is just starting to realize it has the capacity to attract some of the most relevant artists from around the world. Now it’s a matter of continuing that momentum – with investment, hard work and, above all, intelligence.

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