A Test-Tube Baby Called Creative Industries
The new 10 Fantasia art space opens in the St. Lazarus District.
Certainly, many of us have heard about how the local government is willing to “further develop Macau’s Creative Industries,” yet few have seen these words put into practice as concrete cultural policies. Instead, according to Chief Executive Edmund Ho, the Government implemented its own idea and declared the St. Lazarus District the testing ground for the project. In response to this initiative, local legislator and Executive Council member Leong Heng Teng gathered together a group of people in 2004 to form the “Creative Industries Promotion Association of the St. Lazarus Church District” (CIPA).
For the last four years the association has been preparing itself to meet the expectations of both the Government and the general public. Among other objectives, the goal of attracting more people to the beautiful yet deserted district surrounding the St. Lazarus Church became a priority. Beginning in
February of 2007, the “Crazy Paradise” evening fair was held every two months in front of the Old Ladies’ House. Featuring local bands and singers, the show offered an open-air bar, coffee shop and booths selling facsimiles of traditional handicrafts. After several such “tests”, which gained popularity among visitors, the association finally succeeded in convincing the Government to “lend” them a home, to serve as an embryo for Macau’s future Creative Industries.
“10 Fantasia – A Creative Industries Incubator” opened its first art exhibition on the 19th of September. The new art space is situated right next to the famous Old Ladies’ House, inside an old building with an area of 651 square metres. Built in 1919, the mansion was originally owned by local businessman Antonio Chan and was occupied by his only daughter, Rosa Chan, until her death in 1979. Bought by the Macau Government in the 80s, the mansion was restored by architects Carlos Marreiros and Luís Sá Machado and was used consecutively by the Commission Against Corruption and the Environmental Council of Macau in the 1990s. Mr. Wong Sak Quan, vice-president of the CIPA, explained they are planning to make 10 Fantasia into an activity centre, where art exhibitions, evening concerts like “Crazy Paradise”, art workshops and other events will be organised. “First of all, we would like to attract more people to this place, so that it will become more dynamic. At the same time we are planning to create more events, all of them oriented toward the idea of developing the Creative Industries in Macau,” Wong said. In order
to accomplish this Wong Sak Quan and Project Co-ordinator Chan Wai Fai (Ah Cheng), both artists in their own right, invited 11 other local artists to install themselves in the rooms of the 10 Fantasia mansion and showcase their works. The media include photography, graphic design, sculpture, ceramic art, comic books and anime and painting. For the first exhibition, titled “Fantasia 3 – The Troublemakers”, Wong himself presents his latest photographic work. Also featured are the graphic design posters of Bruno Kuan and a series of outdoor sculptures by Wong Ka Long.
To inaugurate the event, official representatives from various governmental departments were invited to water the soil at the roots of a big tree planted in the mansion’s courtyard ages ago. Somehow, the historic appearance of the courtyard and the building’s bureaucratic interior have merged to host an experiment. 10 Fantasia, in the St. Lazarus District, has indeed become a testing ground, where Art is expected to be transformed into a Creative Industry.
