Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, and presented by the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government and the China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd., the “Hong Kong-Macao Visual Art Biennale” will be held from 5 March to 1 April at the Art Museum of the Nanjing University of the Arts, presenting the contemporary cultural landscapes and spirits of the two cities.

Since its first edition in 2008, the “Hong Kong-Macao Visual Art Biennale” has been an important link between artists from the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, and has become a major event for cultural exchange among the three regions. This year’s touring exhibition will be held in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing. The first exhibition was successfully held in Hangzhou from October to November last year, attracting over 30,000 visitors.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition was held on the morning of 5 March at the Art Museum of the Nanjing University of the Arts, and was attended by the Head of the Division of Visual Art of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Van Pou Lon, and by the participating Macao artists Lo Hio Ieng, Sit Ka Kit, Ng Sang Kei, Lam Im Peng and Ieong Wan Si. Van Pou Lon referred in his speech that Macao and Nanjing have maintained exchange and cooperation in various fields for a long time, and this Biennale will showcase Macao’s contemporary visual arts to the audiences in Nanjing, promoting cultural exchange and innovation between the two places, and allowing more people from Nanjing to understand Macao from an artistic perspective. After the exhibition concludes in Nanjing, it will continue to tour in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing.

Themed “Integration and Dialogue”, this edition of the Biennale covers visual arts, intangible cultural heritage and design, technological innovation, and social design, among others, aiming to build a platform for cultural dialogue between Hong Kong, Macao and cities of Mainland China. The Macao’s exhibition section is themed “Not Macao, But Named Macao”, featuring a variety of creative art forms including oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas, photography, mixed media, video, digital moving images, installations and space for immersive experiences. The exhibition features a total of 30 pieces/sets of contemporary artworks by ten participating local artists, including Cai Guo Jie, Ieong Wan Si, Im Fong, Lam Im Peng, Lo Hio Ieng, Lou Kam Ieng, Ng Sang Kei, Ricardo Filipe dos Santos Meireles, Sit Ka Kit and Xie Yun, revealing the artists’ understanding and personal impressions to Macao and their profound emotional ties with the city.