Hosted by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the 'Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Inscription of the Historic Centre of Macao on the World Heritage List' festival took place on 11 and 12 July at the World Heritage Youth Education Base at the Mandarin's House and Largo do Lilau. It was a time to celebrate the city's heritage | Photo by António R.J. Monteiro

Festival life: the return

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Stunning interactive digital installations have been wowing visitors to The Venetian Macao since TeamLab's 5,000-square-metre SuperNature exhibition opened on 15 June. This image shows one of the pieces. Born From the Darkness a Loving and Beautiful section, where the artworks mix elegant calligraphy with immersive sound

Stunning interactive digital installations have been wowing visitors to The Venetian Macao since TeamLab's 5,000-square-metre SuperNature exhibition opened on 15 June. This image shows one of the pieces. Born From the Darkness a Loving and Beautiful section, where the artworks mix elegant calligraphy with immersive sound

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Stunning interactive digital installations have been wowing visitors to The Venetian Macao since TeamLab's 5,000-square-metre SuperNature exhibition opened on 15 June. This image shows one of the pieces. Born From the Darkness a Loving and Beautiful section, where the artworks mix elegant calligraphy with immersive sound
An image from the Valley of Flowers and People: Lost, Immersed and Reborn section of TeamLab’s exhibition, which features seasonal change over the course of a year. Not pre-recorded, this installation is programmed to continuously render new images in real-time, offering a unique experience with each visit
The TeamLab exhibition. Multi Jumping Universe section offers visitors an interactive experience under the stars. You can jump or with other visitors as new stars are born when the installation surface becomes distorted
One of the biggest events to be staged last month was the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Hundreds turned out on 20 June to watch the first day of the epic races that serve as a prequel to the festival. Here, the boats are lined up before the races begin and there’s a family carnival underway at the Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre in the background
The action hots up in the water during the second day of the races on 21 June. This day saw the Macao Small Dragon Boat Race, the Open Category, the Women’s Category, the Macao Entities Small Dragon Boat Race and the Macao University Student Small Dragon Boat Race
The final day of the races on 25 June was the actual Dragon Boat Festival. This was the big day on the water and included the 500-metre Macao Standard Dragon Boat Race. Here, a team is waved on by supporters on the shore
Someone must have done well in the races! There’s a celebratory mood in the air during the entire festival
Women’s diversity and power were celebrated during a special event at Hub Macau, a co-working space in Avenida de Venceslau de Morais, on 28 June. The New Woman Festival, which covered women’s physical and mental health as well as the beauty of all females, attracted visitors from across the city
Dance and music featured in the New Woman Festival. This image is from a performance called The Agony. Is Exquisite, a piece inspired by the spinster Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. It explored the dark side of vicarious revenge
Hosted by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Inscription of the Historic Centre of Macao on the World Heritage List festival took place on 11 and 12 July at the World Heritage Youth Education Base at the Mandarin’s House and Largo do Lilau. It was a time to celebrate the city’s heritage
Emcees introduce the World Heritage List festival during its opening ceremony on 11 July, right outside the Mandarin’s House
There were lively performances for visitors at the World Heritage List festival, including this traditional dance which was performed on a stark red floor
The festival wasn’t just for the adults. Children also enjoyed the educational booths, activities and games. For Macao, this was a time to celebrate both its heritage and the fact that events and festivals were back in town. The city was returning to normal
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TEXT Rafelle Marie Allego
PHOTOS TeamLab, Sports Bureau, Cultural Affairs Bureau and New Woman Development Association of Macao

That headline is not the title of a new movie sequel. It’s an expression of celebration from everyone in Macao as, after months of cancelled events during the COVID-19 pandemic, festivals, art shows and other events have come back to the city as it eases into ‘normal life’ once again. We focus on four events that have taken place over the past few weeks: art collective TeamLab’s immersive space at The Venetian Macao, the annual Dragon Boat Festival on Nam Van Lake, the New Woman Festival that was held at co-working space Hub Macau and an extravaganza that celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the inscription of the historic centre of Macao on UNESCO’s World Heritage List at the Mandarin’s House and Largo do Lilau.

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