Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), the 22nd Macao City Fringe Festival will be held from 17 to 28 January. The opening ceremony will be held on 17 January (Wednesday), at 4pm, at the Former Iec Long Firecracker Factory, injecting endless artistic vitality into the community and bringing creativity into every corner of the city. The participatory exhibition “Art Exhibition for All” will be inaugurated at 11am on the same day. Limited tickets are available for some of the Fringe Festival’s programmes and those interested are advised to purchase tickets as soon as possible.
This edition of the Fringe Festival will offer an array of featured programmes dedicated to the theme of “artistic playground”. Live: the gradient of blue will explore the artistic expressions of music by presenting the music performances themed around four tones of blue and videos meticulously produced by local director Teng Kun Hou, as well as improvisations by seven musicians from Macao and Taiwan. Hello, Welcome, Goodbye! will demonstrate two of the latest AI dialogue modules that simulate live conversations between hairdressers and customers, showcasing a dialogue between technology and humanity. “Experience tickets’ and “observer tickets” are available for the show, and spectators with “experience tickets” can participate the interactive hairdressing session. In Goodbye, See You Soon, the creator will share the story of how she cuddles and keeps company with her pet through her inner voice. The public is welcome to bring along one cat to watch the show together. Vestige, a live performance merging experimental video and sound, invites the audience to explore the relationship between the urban development and natural environment on the rooftop of the Chun Su Mei Community Centre. In Tunnel, which revolves around the concept of “tunnels”, the dancers will guide the audience to watch a theatrical performance on the move. Combined with dance and sound navigation, Travelling at Your Doorstep leads the audience to follow the dancers’ footsteps and stroll through Flora Park, taking a mental “excursion” in the busy life.
In addition to an array of intriguing programmes, the Fringe Festival offers various outreach activities. The “FreeSteps – Body Development Workshop” will feature an artists’ session and a public session, in which Taiwanese choreographer Su Wei-Chia will share her experience from years of rehearsing and practice methods and guide participants in exploring their bodies and unlimited possibilities through free movement. The “Roundtable Discussion: ‘Dancing and Living with the Body Through the Years” will invite artists from various regions to visit Macao to talk and share about their creative ideas, processes and experience of working with elderly artists. In “Fringe Chat”, art critics from Macao and neighbouring regions will share their insights with the public on the features and dynamics of this year’s Fringe Festival.
Tickets for the 22nd Macao City Fringe Festival are available through the Macau Ticketing Network, telephone and online booking (local and overseas), with various discount packages available. 24-hour ticketing hotline: 2855 5555; ticketing website: www.macauticket.com. For more information about the programmes, please visit the Fringe Festival’s website at www.macaucityfringe.gov.mo, the “Macao City Fringe Festival” page on Facebook, IC’s WeChat official account “IC_Art_Macao”, or the Macao activities website “Enjoy Macao”.