21st Macao City Fringe Festival themed “Margin Break” leads the audience to break down the barriers of distance
Organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), the 21st Macao City Fringe Festival, themed “Margin Break”, will be held from 12 to 23 January 2022, featuring 20 extraordinary programmes and 15 outreach activities, leading the audience to break down the barriers of distance, bringing art out of regular venues and integrating it into everyday lives. Combining online and offline art forms, the Fringe Festival will present various creative programmes, establishing itself as an event featuring exceptional characteristics and innovative ideas.
The Macao City Fringe Festival adheres to the concept of “All around the city, our stages, our patrons, our artists”, encouraging the participation of all residents. This year, the Fringe Festival has launched the series “Crème de la Fringe” with two subthemes, namely “Iao Hon” by Ao Ieong Pui San and “Todos Fest!” by Comuna de Pedra Arts and Cultural Association. The former features three programmes, including Tenant, Illegal Immigrant and Passerby, as well as three outreach activities, interpreting the world in the eyes of its residents through artistic creation, mainly in the form of theatre. The second subtheme will feature three performances, including The Never-ending Task of Lust for Failure for Secondary School Students, Dancing Veins and Body-Specific!, two workshops, two screening sessions and one sharing session, bringing art into the lives of people from all walks of life and showing different aspects of life through dance, theatre, music and improvisational performance.
This edition of the Fringe Festival invites AΦE from the United Kingdom to present its Asian premiere 0AR, a collection of short dance and immersive works combined with Augmented Reality (AR) technology. The sound theatre Back Home from the Edinburgh Fringe Showcase is a participatory performance, in which the audience will play the roles and tell several stories about going home and facing the unexpected future. Lift Left Life Live by PO Art Studio will lead the audience to embark on a journey of art. John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes with the Eight Rasas by the Macao Contemporary Music Association will unfold the eight rasas in Indian aesthetics through music, projection mapping and dancers’ body languages. The Post-pandemic Madness curated by Heidi Ng, Somen Sou and Kathy Ng will prompt the audience to reflect on the relationship between society and nature in the post-pandemic era through the combination of multimedia, theatre and technology. The Inside by Cynthia Sio will lead the audience to an empty space, where they can create their artworks freely. Dancers in Macao and Korea will then join the participants online to further develop their art, allowing the audience to experience another interpretation of life in the form of interactive art.
This year’s Fringe Festival will continue to bring art into various districts. Finding Season by Cindy Ng will combine real-time weather data of Macao with ink art to create a virtual but realistic setting through multimedia art installations. In Kids Dance Battle by The Dancer Studio Macao, young dancers will present different dance styles, such as street dance, Latin dance or Chinese dance, in a competition at Largo de S. Domingos. In The Rice Dough Craftsman by Aline da Silva Mendes, a three-metre-high bamboo puppet is made to recall the memory of times. Fragment is a costume theatre play presented by Cheng Ka Man under the theme of iron forging. Macao Magic Cinema by Sou Tai San, Sun Chan San and Wong Kai Ian will take the audience on a magical journey. Room that Kid by Kawo Cheang will stage five artistic exercises to converse with his works. A Space of New and Old by Rolling Puppet Alternative Theatre will present a time travel to the past and present in Coloane. Flortitude by Zero Distance Cooperative will demonstrate the healing power of nature by combining interactive theatre with flowers.
This edition of the Fringe Festival counts with Bank of China (Macao Branch) as the designated bank partner. Tickets are available through the Macau Ticketing Network, telephone and online booking (local and overseas) from 10am on 12 December (Sunday). The 24-hour ticketing hotline: 2855 5555 and the ticketing website at www.macauticket.com. Holders of BOC Multi-Currency Credit Cards or BOC Cards can enjoy a 12% discount on ticket purchases over MOP200. A 12% discount will also be offered to holders of “CCM Friends”, “OM Friends”, “Friends of the Macao Chinese Orchestra”, “Friends of MAM”, a valid full-time Student Card (holders of local student card or Macao residents with overseas student card) and Macao Teacher Card, and a 50% discount to holders of a Macao Senior Citizen Card or Disability Assessment Registration Card. Registration for all outreach activities can be made online or by phone from 10am on 12 December on a first-come, first-served basis. Online registration can be made at www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event. For phone registration and enquiries, please contact IC through tel. no. 8399 6872 during office hours. 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 or “IC_Art_Macao” on WeChat. In cooperation with the epidemic prevention efforts of the SAR Government, all participants must wear face masks at all times, undergo temperature checks and present their health code of the day.
The press conference of the 21st Macao City Fringe Festival was held on 9 December, at the conference room of the Macao Cultural Centre, with the presence of the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Mok Ian Ian; the Head of the Department of Performing Arts Development of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Iu Wai Man; the Acting Head of the Division of Performing Arts of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tong Pui I; as well as representatives of participating art groups and art professionals. There was a game zone based on the design of main image of this year’s Fringe Festival and some of its programmes at the venue of the press conference. Games will also be available at the opening ceremony, where the public can enjoy the fun of art and recall those simple but happy memories, thus bringing art closer to the public and integrating it into their daily lives, echoing the theme of the Fringe Festival “Margin Break”.
