Meet Macao’s 2024 Venice Biennale representative
The artist Wong Weng Cheong found inspiration in an Italian novel and English landscapes for his biennale installation, “Above Zobeide”, an exploration of introversion.
The artist Wong Weng Cheong found inspiration in an Italian novel and English landscapes for his biennale installation, “Above Zobeide”, an exploration of introversion.
Through a few choice characters carved into granite, boundary stones offer glimpses into past iterations of Macao’s Chinese communities. Historical researcher Tam Chon Ip has been tracking down these previously undocumented markings for over a decade – a mission that’s become a race against urban development.
The Macao Museum of Art showcases Tibetan Buddhist treasures that were gifts exchanged between the Qing court and successive Panchen Lamas in Xizang.
Members of the Macau Numismatic Society are all avid collectors of money, though not as legal tender. For them, the value of coins and banknotes lies in their ability to tell a story of the past.
For the past 80-odd years, Chion Chau café has borne witness to the ebbs and flows of Macao. Today, it’s run by a father-and-son team who are moving with the times while remembering the past.
Bamboo has long been used in Macao’s construction industry, primarily as scaffolding. But as this eco-friendly material gradually gets replaced by steel, there are people fighting for its inclusion in a wider range of building activities.
Ching Kei is a Cantonese restaurant in Macao’s old town that’s barely changed since the 1960s. It’s earned its place in the government’s Distinctive Shops Programme – proof, in a way, of the role it plays in maintaining the city’s heritage.
For almost two decades, the Macao Heritage Ambassadors Association has been convincing visitors that there’s more to this city than integrated resorts. The group also reminds locals that what is here is precious.
In the early 20th century, a devout Buddhist and his reformist friends ran a college for women. The archives amassed during this time – at Kong Tac Lam Temple – has just been awarded special new status by UNESCO.
Fang Lijun’s bold, dream-like artwork has amassed fans across four decades. An ambitious exhibition attempts to capture the artist’s formidable oeuvre.