“Why can’t daily life be the theatre for screenplays?” BOK Festival Curator Pal Lok Chok asked The Macau Post Daily rhetorically yesterday at Collectore near São Lázaro district, adding that experimental art was supposed to happen anywhere.
“We might use arts that are popularised elsewhere to tell the story of Macau. I don’t think it’s necessary to localise the event, because we want the audience to experience different cultures,” Café Odyssey artist Ronnie Chou Long In told The Macau Post Daily at Collectore, a shop-cum-café, during a group interview yesterday. “Different people being in the same area can tell you various stories of the same place and that already construes as experiencing another culture”, she added.
“With the proliferation of cafés in Macau, I thought that it could be a chance for me to let Macau people tell their own stories to one another. On Sunday, I will set up a portable coffee cart, giving out 100 coffees to passers-by for a price that they think the coffee is worth. I have three routes planned – nostalgia, exploration and journey – inspired by talking to different people working, living or being in the São Lázaro area. These routes are for the coffee drinkers to experience the streets of São Lázaro from another person’s perspective”.
Meanwhile, for MJ Interactive Installation artist Steven Ng Ka Wai the sound of mahjong is music to certain people’s ears but he attempts to convert it to music for the masses. “You can consider each tile as being a musical instrument that each produces different sounds. This is a way to let the community dwellers of São Lázaro be in touch with experimental music,” Ng told The Macau Post Daily. When asked about how accepting the dwellers would be with experimental music, he said that the aim of the project was to create an experience for the participants, “it doesn’t matter if it’s a good one or a bad one”.
The event’s “Burning Hot Market” organiser José Alfredo Lau do Rosário shares the same idea, and said that “we cannot control how accepting people will be with an art culture. All we can do is to create more art pieces to attract people’s attention”. He confessed that he is a fan of street culture, which is not a well-liked trend in Macau because of the “negative stigma” attached to it.
“Street culture like hip hop, rap, kendama, skateboarding and street fashion are not popular in Macau. This is mainly because not a lot of people can accept the concept of the culture,” Lau do Rosário said. However, he was quick to add that Macau has been improving on its inclusivity, but said it would be a long and slow progress.
24-hour art festival
M Mode 24 Curator Katherine Cheong Weng Lam said that ever since the pandemic hit in 2019, Macau people’s lifestyle has changed slightly: “There may not be obvious changes but ever since 2020 there’s a demand for night coffee. Macau has always been bustling 24 hours, so why can’t we have art festivals that have different event round-the clock?” This idea, Cheong said, encouraged her to create M Mode 24 which was organised according to three directions – artists’ view of São Lázaro district, the community dwellers’ view of São Lázaro district and other extended projects. She added that there will be a string of events on Saturday and Sunday, ranging from morning yoga to a late-night movie marathon, activities for early birds and night owls, to experience authentic local art via daily life.
Burning Hot Market organiser José Alfredo Lau do Rosário (from left to right), BOK Festival Curator Pal Lok Chok, MJ Interactive Installation artist Steven Ng Ka Wai, Café Odyssey artist Ronnie Chou Long In and M Mode 24 Curator Katherine Cheong Weng Lam pose at Collectore near São Lázaro yesterday. Photo: Prisca Tang
