In February, the Cotai Strip got a lot shinier with the opening of the latest luxury resort property, MGM COTAI. The US$3.4 billion integrated resort features 1,390 rooms and suites, nine new dining concepts, Asia’s first dynamic theater and the impressive Spectacle featuring the world’s largest area of permanent indoor LED screens, showcasing an array of digital art collected from around the globe.
Spread throughout the new property is the MGM COTAI Art Collection presenting over 300 artworks, including modern and contemporary Asian paintings and sculptures by renowned artists, freshly-commissioned works by local and regional rising talents, and large-scale installations. The Art Collection also includes 28 Chinese imperial carpets dating from the Qing Dynasty, which once adorned the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Four world-renowned celebrity chefs will helm the culinary offerings at MGM COTAI including Grill 58°, with its menu designed by Michelin two-star award-winning chef Chef Mauro Colagreco, and Aji, the first authentic Nikkei restaurant in Macau by Chef Mitsuharu Tsumura, one of the world’s most acclaimed Nikkei experts.
Coast, helmed by Chef Graham Elliot, a celebrity chef and television personality from popular cooking show Top Chef, offers dishes that capture the spirit of California and neighboring West Coast flavors. And Janice Wong MGM offers tantalising sweet pastry delights and one of the biggest chocolate fountains in the world.
The new MGM Theater can seat up to 2,000 people in more than 10 different configurations. It utilizes a giant 900-square-metre 4K (28 million pixel ultra HD) LED screen, the world’s largest permanent indoor LED screen, taking live entertainment a step closer to the world of mass virtual reality.
In the near future, the Theater will be home to three resident shows with two launching first: The Experience, inspired by the soul of Macau, is a 10-minute mind-bending and harmonious technological symphony; while Destiny is an action-packed immersive theatrical production inspired by the concept of TV game shows and adventure video games.
At the centre of the property is the 8,100m2 Spectacle, utilizing 25 LED Walls in a 4-storey high atrium space. Co-created with Obscura Digital, MGM spent months capturing natural wonders of Asia with the latest filming technologies to produce over seven hours of exclusive content under six themes, including several UNESCO World Heritage Sites of China.
And marking its territory at the front of the property is the iconic emblem of MGM – the Golden Lion. Eleven metres in height and 38 tons in weight, it is the first MGM lion statue to be gilded in 24-karat gold with the use of approximately 32,000 sheets of gold foils.
The new resort also has impressive green credentials, recognised as the largest property and the first private sector project ever to achieve the China Green Building (Macau) Design Label Certification.
MGM PRESENTS
ART SYMPOSIUM ON REDEFINING PUBLIC ART
MGM MACAU was a proud sponsor of this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong, and as part of its collaboration, hosted an art tour and symposium on redefining public art, to further its mission of making art more accessible to the public, and enhance community awareness of art and culture through MGM COTAI’s spectacular art program.
The “Explore Spectacular” journey began with an art tour of the imperial carpets, The Chairman’s Collection and digital art collection of the newly opened MGM COTAI. It was then followed by a Meet-the-Artists session in which the participants had an up-close encounter with the contributing artists of the MGM COTAI Art Collection, including Hsiao Chin, Ung Si Meng, Xue Song, Gao XiaoWu, Lin Guocheng, Su Xing, Hung Yi, Chloe Ho, Hong Wei, Zheng Lu, Guan Yinfu, Yu Yang, Liang Jenhung, Eric Fok, Kum Chi Keung and Wang Kaifang.
The journey concluded with an art symposium on redefining public art with welcome remarks delivered by Ms. Pansy Ho, Co-Chairperson & Executive Director of MGM China Holdings Limited. The event attracted over 200 participants including renowned regional artists, representatives from local arts and cultural scene, educators and students from the art discipline.
Ms. Pansy Ho noted in her welcome remarks that “MGM remains consistent to spearhead the unprecedented art movement in Macau, bringing the world to China and China to the world through a wide array of art and cultural endeavors. It is our vision and ambition to showcase classic and contemporary Chinese masterpieces, offer multi-sensory immersive experiences, and most importantly, to stage art that is free and accessible to people from all walks of life.”
Two of the lead curators involved in the artistic making of MGM COTAI were Mr. Calvin Hui, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of 3812 Gallery as well as the Curator of The Chairman’s Collection; and Ms. Michelle Grenier, Associate Creative Director of Obscura Digital as well as the Creative Director of Digital Art at the Spectacle. Both shared their inspirations behind their creations and curation at the symposium, with Mr. Tim Marlow, Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts, moderating their exchange of ideas on the power of art in public places and how MGM redefines public art.
The MGM COTAI Art Collection is part of MGM’s goal to bring world cultures together through innovative artworks that are each spectacular in their own right, and coalescing that into the diversified entertainment and offerings made available to people from all walks of life.
Within the Art Collection is the Chairman’s Collection, with over 40 pieces of contemporary art from Asian artists selected by Ms. Pansy Ho and Mr. James J. Murren, bridging the East and West and Tradition with Technology through the theme of “A World Linked Through Art”. Contributing artists of the Chairman’s Collection include: Liu Dan, LinGuocheng, Hsiao Chin, Xue Song, Macau’s own Ung Si Meng and many more.