Interview by William Chan
Local artist and designer Nono Leong Chi Hang has spoken with The Macau Post Daily about his recent project “Dopamine Garden” with NOVA Mall, including art installations, photo spots and workshops at the mall.
The exclusive interview was held recently in a conference room of NOVA Mall.
A graduate of Macao Polytechnic University (MPU), Leong worked as a graphic designer at the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) in his early years. His works have won numerous awards in international competitions. In 2013, he co-founded the company CHIII design and is now its art director. In 2015, he founded the Macao Illustrators Association and is promoting cooperation and exchanges with illustration industries in Macau and elsewhere.
Leong explained that the project came to fruition through a collaboration between NOVA Mall and his team from CHIII design. “We have taken into account the opinions of NOVA Mall, indicating that their customer base likely consists of families or primarily local residents. Therefore, considering these factors, we have decided to establish the theme of Dopamine Garden,” he said.
The Dopamine Garden, an art installation situated in the centre of the mall’s atrium, is positioned directly under a skylight. The installation features colourful spheres, plant-like figures with brain-shaped flowers, and seating platforms for visitors, aiming to appeal to a wider audience, especially families.
According to Leong, the spheres symbolise the seeds that are sown in the garden that grow into the large plants after absorbing sunlight from the skylight. Visitors on upper floors can also admire the garden from a higher vantage point. “The mall’s unique design with natural lighting and an open layout was ideal for a garden installation at the centre of the mall, but we had to ensure that the installation looked good from all angles. We decided to tilt the angle of the flowers upwards for visitors looking down,” he said.
The flowers of the garden are vibrantly coloured on the right side of their “brain”, where dopamine is supposedly released into a real human brain. “You’ll notice that each flower has different colours and shapes painted on it, but they’re all equally vibrant. We wanted to convey the message that anyone can find happiness on their own terms,” he said
Leong’s team took the needs of the mall into consideration during the project’s development. “We observed that NOVA Mall has more families visiting than other local shopping malls, so we made the seeds out of spheres initially to make it safer. To our surprise, children really enjoyed playing with them, while their parents rested under the flowers,” he noted. In addition, Leong’s team and NOVA Mall created a workshop for customers of all ages to paint dopamine-themed tote bags and charms with the provided coloured pens, as long as they spent a certain amount of money at the mall.
Leong also emphasised the promotional power of social media. “One of the main advantages of an art installation, as opposed to 2D art-like paintings, is that people are more likely to take photos with it and share them on social media, indirectly advertising the event and the mall,” he noted, adding that in addition to the garden in the mall’s centre, the Dopamine Garden figures also appear on the glass barriers and escalators, and two brain installation figures were placed on the top and basement floors of the mall.
A NOVA Mall spokesman noted during the interview that customers who follow the mall’s official WeChat account and spend 380 patacas or more in a single transaction can receive a voucher to create their own Dopamine-themed charm. Furthermore, customers who spend 680 patacas or more in a single transaction can receive a voucher to create their own Dopamine-themed tote bag. The event will run until August 31.
Local Artist Nono Leong posing in front of ‘Dopamine Garden’ at NOVA Mall – All photos provided by CHIII design
CHIII design team posing in front of Dopamine Garden.
