Interview by William Chan
Last week, Mel Cheong Hoi I, a local art curator and artist, revealed to The Macau Post Daily that the opening ceremony of “Curiouser and Curiouser – A Ladder to Find Alice” is set to commence on Saturday at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre. This multifaceted art experience will feature an installation, performance art, and a theatrical experience.
Cheong is a renowned artist whose prints have been exhibited worldwide. Her expertise lies in design, printmaking education, and children’s education, among other areas. She, together with MCZ_Thomas, launched the “Curiouser & Curiouser” project, which aims to introduce children to different art forms and inspire their creativity. In recent years, Cheong has also ventured into creating site-specific art installations, and her installation titled “Curiouser and Curiouser: Pursuit of Dreams” won the third prize at the Emerging Design Competition of Huacan Awards.
The forthcoming art event, under the auspices of the Macau City Visual Arts Society, will also feature recurring performances by local theatre association, Big Mouse Kids Drama Group, in conjunction with the installation exhibition.
Cheong believes that artwork is a reflection of the artist’s current status, thoughts, and even the future. Cheong shared that the inspiration for the installations came from the fourth chapter of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” “Two elements were particularly striking to me when conceptualising the art: Alice’s fluctuating size and the Rabbit’s frenetic behaviour, constantly bossing others around,” she said. The White work, an abstract and colourful piece, will hang from the ceiling of the ground floor to the lower ground floor, with varying shapes and sizes.
Cheong further elaborated that the art’s large size, in comparison to the visitors, symbolises Alice’s expanding and contracting size following her consumption of drinks. Meanwhile, the varying levels of the art represent the hierarchical nature of Wonderland, and the “authoritarian” White Rabbit from Chapter 4.
Cheong, an experienced printmaking artist, said that one of her goals for installation art is to encourage visitors to linger longer with the artwork. “Sadly, in this age of ‘fast food culture’, most people only spend a few seconds on each painting at printmaking art exhibitions. Installation art, however, offers a different experience. Its sheer size allows visitors to view it from a distance initially, and their perspectives might shift as they move closer. Moreover, many visitors enjoy taking photographs with the installation, which might keep them engaged and observe the art for a few extra minutes,” she pointed out.
Drama Performance
During the exhibition period, actresses from the Big Mouse Kids Drama Group will perform two acts every Sunday afternoon until August 20. The Macau Post Daily spoke to Helen Ko, the artistic director of the performance, last week in an online interview. Ko revealed that the performance will incorporate a tall ladder into the set design, enabling the actresses to interact with the installation. The installation will also contain hidden surprises relevant to the plot, and stilt performers will be utilised for visually upward projection.
Inspired by “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Ko has creatively added characters not present in the original work. “In the play, we don’t portray Alice growing and shrinking. Instead, we have elements like gloves changing in size. In a relative sense, the audience ‘becomes’ Alice as they perceive themselves growing and shrinking in relation to the gloves.”
Audience interaction is a significant aspect of the performance, with actresses engaging with the children in many scenes. “There are crucial plot points in this play that rely on the young audience’s participation. The audience needs to find items, activate some magic, and even influence the character’s emotions together,” Ko noted.
“Curiouser and Curiouser - A Ladder to Find Alice” will run from Saturday to September 25 at the LG floor of the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre. The free exhibition will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the opening ceremony will take place on Saturday at 3 p.m. In addition, there will be performances on July 30, August 6, August 13, and August 20 at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., every Sunday.
This photo taken earlier this week depicts Mel Cheong’s installation art at the LG floor of the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre. The artwork has a height of 11 metres and occupies a space of 7 square metres.
This photo shows local artist Mel Cheong Hoi I. – Photos provided by Mel Cheong
Big Mouse Kids Drama Group actresses rehearse recently for the upcoming performance.
