Macau-Poland artist duo Cheong Kin Man and Marta Stanisława Sala are showcasing their inaugural exhibition in Poland, paying homage to the 1990 “Operation Dragon” and accentuating connections between Polish historical figures and Macau. The exhibit, titled “Flora Macanensis,” is on display at Katowice’s City Library (MBPK) at Bogucice until February 28.
Artist talk on Macau Biennale
Described as a “magic evening” by MBPK on Facebook, the opening took place on January 7 and featured a one-hour artist talk introduced by librarian Joanna Misielak. During the event, Cheong and Sala discussed Macau’s cultural landscape and reflected on their collaboration with local curators Lam Sio Man and Pal Lok for the 2023 Macau Biennale, stressing the topics of angst and language in the age of AI.
Revisiting “Operation Dragon”
“Flora Macanensis” (Latin for “Macau’s Flora”) takes its name from “Flora Sinensis” (“Flora of China”), a 1656 publication by Polish Jesuit Michael Boym. This title also frames a centrepiece of the exhibition: a series of seven hand-printed posters recounting the story of Flora, Cheong’s mother. She was among over 50,000 undocumented immigrants granted residency during the 1990 “Operation Dragon.”
References to Polish adventurers
The exhibition also features “The Compass of Utopia”, a series of three textile creations. These works interweave Cheong’s father’s unpublished memoirs with artistic nods to Boym’s 17th-century mission in Macau and Maurice Benyowsky’s 1771 journey through the city.
This textile project debuted in Spring 2024 at the duo’s first exhibition in Germany, hosted by Krakauer Haus, Cracow’s sole cultural mission abroad. Held in collaboration with Nuremberg City Council, the event was supported by Fundação Oriente.
Artist Book in imaginary language
Also on display is “Apocalypses”, a mini sci-fi book commissioned for the Macau Biennale two years ago. Written entirely in an invented language with around 200 fictional ideograms, it thematises the rivalry between AI and humanity. This publication has also been exhibited last year at Berlin’s “Miss Read” book fair and Lisbon’s “Touching the Word with the Tongue” art exhibition.
Lech Wałęsa in experimental film
The five-minute video “Pomnik do Noszenia” (“The Ready-Made Monument”) includes an interview with Portuguese navigator António de Abreu Freire, who recounts a brief encounter with future Polish president Lech Wałęsa in the early 1980s. This film is one of two pieces created last December during a residency program at the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Ustka, northern Poland.
“Ghost money” giveaway
Visitors can take home some “‘Ostgeld’ for Ghosts.” (“Ostgeld” translates literally to “the East’s money” and refers to currency from the now-defunct German Democratic Republic.) This installation, produced for the 2022 Begehungen Festival in Saxony, Germany, originally comprised 24,000 “ghost banknotes” arranged in an eight-person jacuzzi. The German Press Agency (dpa) noted that the interactive project “received very positive feedback from attendees of all ages.”
N.B. Press release provided by Cheong Kin Man to The Macau Post Daily
Macau-Poland artist duo Cheong Kin Man (right) and Marta Stanisława Sala discuss angst and language in the AI age in Poland at Katowice’s City Library (MBPK) at Bogucice in Poland on January 7. – Photo courtesy of Anna Kajzer, staff of Katowice City Council
