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http://sac.sagepub.com/Space and Culture
http://sac.sagepub.com/content/14/2/140The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/1206331210392685
2011 14: 140 originally published online 7 January 2011Space and CultureCarol Archer and Christopher Kelen
Macao Monuments: In Art, in Poetry, and in Your Face
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Space and Culture14(2) 140164
The Author(s) 2011
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Macao Monuments:In Art, in Poetry, and inYour Face
Carol Archer1 and Christopher Kelen2
Abstract
How are city and culturethe space of the city and the mind space of the cultural artifact
connected or disconnected? Contemporary Macao poetry and installation art demonstrate that
not only has local culture continued to thrive despite outside pressures on the citys regionalposition (a part of one China with a localized function) but that the need to produce a
critique of these pressures has itself been productive of a politically interested (and interesting)literary and visual culturea creative culture that demonstrates an opportunistic ambivalencetoward identity options. Macao (a city in southern China and, until 1999, sleepy Portuguese
possession) is today undergoing unprecedented development. Since the 2002 liberalization ofcasino licensing, the cityscape has taken a monumental turn, with the addition of a number ofremarkable landmarks. Today, Macao is promoted as a tourist destination that offers ultramodern
casinos and luxurious hotels as well as World Heritagelisted architecture. In recent years,the people of Macao have sometimes felt themselves the victims of contradictory forms ofrecolonizationby Beijing on one hand and by Vegas-style casino capitalism on the other.
Between these gigantic pincers, what chances of survival have local culture and custom had?This article takes a close look at some contemporary Macao poetry and installation art, dealingwith themes of monumentality and their meaning for the new Macao.
Keywords
monuments, space, Macao, poetry, visual art
How are city and culturethe space of the city and the mind space of the cultural artifact
connected or disconnected? Contemporary Macao poetry and visual art demonstrate that not
only has local culture continued to thrive despite outside pressures on the citys regional position(a part of one China with a localized function) but that the need to produce a critique of these
pressures has itself been productive of a politically interested (and interesting) literary and visual
culturea creative culture that demonstrates an opportunistic ambivalence toward identity
options.
Macao (also known as Macau, a city in southern China and, until 1999, sleepy Portuguese
possession) is today undergoing unprecedented development. Today, Macao is promoted as a
1 Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR2 University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, Peoples Republic of China
Corresponding Author:
Christopher Kelen, English Department, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, Peoples Republic of China
Email: [email protected]
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Archer and Kelen 141
tourist destination that offers ultramodern casinos and luxurious hotels as well as World
Heritagelisted architecture. In recent years, the people of Macao have sometimes felt them-
selves the victims of contradictory forms of recolonizationby Beijing on one hand and by
Vegas-style casino capitalism on the other. Between these gigantic pincers, what chance of sur-
vival has local culture had?This article takes a close look at some contemporary Macao poetry and installation art that
deals with themes of monumentality and their meaning for the new Macao.
A Brief Note on the Method
Before proceeding further, it will be well to justify both the interdisciplinary cultural studies
approach adopted in this article and the fact that the material we deal with may be regarded as
high culture processes and artifacts. We shall deal with the latter fact first. Our decision to
focus on installation art and poetry does not rest on an assumption that these forms automatically
deserve the privileged attention of scholars. There are, however, good reasons why the kinds of
works considered will be relevant to an understanding of city and culture in the case of Macao.It is significant that the works considered in this article have no commercial motivation.
Along with cultural productions such as the annual Macao Music Festival and Cantonese opera,
Macao poetry and installation art participate in a public sector arts economy, which is operation-
ally independent of (while heavily subsidized by) Macaos casino-dominated economy and tax
base. In an economy now so dependent on gambling revenue, it is noteworthy that the cultural
artifacts dealt with here have not been influenced by the need to make money for anyone. Accord-
ing to Pierre Bourdieu (1993), such distance from economic considerations enhances the avant-
garde status of works of art. Bourdieus claim is that the art world resembles an inversion of the
ordinary economic worldit is a game of loser wins in which the accumulation of profits, the
achievement of honors, and the approval of cultural institutions are not necessarily consideredvirtues (p. 39). While poetry is for Bourdieu the disinterested activitypar excellence (p. 51), a
similar claim may be made for installation art. Both forms of art command relatively small audi-
ences, consisting largely of poets, artists, and intellectuals, and this is especially the case in tiny
Macao. In addition, there is little political interference in the arts in Macao. Poetry and (noncom-
mercial) installation art are, thus, relatively free to engage with issues of aesthetic, social, and
cultural importance, and to offer an unfettered critique of Macao society.
Because contemporary Macao poetry and installation art engage such a wide range of issues,
an interdisciplinary approach to their examination is warranted. A longer study would encom-
pass a comprehensive sociological and anthropological analysis of social change as witnessed
by cultural production in Macao.1
The more general cultural studies approaches to Macaospace and culture that are now also beginning to emerge are particularly useful as a backdrop to
the cultural practices described in this article. For instance, Tim Simpson (2008a) has written
about the pace of change in relation to Macao space:
The spaces of the city have been endlessly reclaimed, reproduced, engineered, and com-
modified. For example, the same year that the labyrinthine city centre of Macao composed
of old Portuguese government buildings, piazzas, and Catholic churches was declared a
UNESCO World Heritage site, investors broke ground nearby on a huge $154 million
Fishermans Wharf featuring themed reproductions of a Roman Coliseum, Tang Dynasty
Chinese architecture, buildings from Amsterdam, Lisbon, Cape Town, and Miami, and an
exploding volcano (pp. 1055-1056).
In The Commercialization of Macaus Cafes, Simpson (2008b) explores the pressures ofsuch changes on everyday life and employment:
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142 Space and Culture 14(2)
Everyday life in Macau increasingly centers around performance of lifestyle. The constel-lation of mobility, individuality, performance, visuality, and aesthetic reflexivity described
here helps capture the role of lifestyle in contemporary Macau and other similar urban
spaces. (p. 229)
In some of Macaus cafs one may witness not only the rationalization and standardization
of a business model and service routine, but also observe the complete transformation of
service work into performative emotional labor. (p. 221)
Suggested here is the possibility that rapid social change may engender alterations in daily life,
which, though massive, may well go unremarked. Scholars and artists share duties of witness insuch circumstances.
Poetry in Casino Age Macao
One may say that Macao, until the dawn of the new casino age,2 was a city that conspicuously
lacked monumental architecture of the kind that other Chinese cities have, in recent decades,
employed to build themselves a kind of branding for modernity. Hong Kongs and Shanghais
skylines would be familiar examples. Macaos landmarks, in contrast, were until the 1999 Han-
dover mainly of an historical naturethe Ruins of St. Pauls church and A-Ma Temple probably
being the best known. These, along with old forts and sundry other notable churches and temples,
could hardly be considered spectacular in the postmodern sense.
Post Vegasization, Macaos landscape is dominated by (one might say littered with) attempts
at monumentality. Notable among these, on peninsula Macao are the Sands, the Wynn, Galaxy,
and MGM (all casinos, all names familiar from Las Vegas; Figures 1 and 2). On the Cotai Strip 3
Figure 1. MGM CasinoNote: Hilda Tam Hio Man (2009)MGM Casino. Digital photograph. Image courtesy of Hilda Tam Hio Man.
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Archer and Kelen 143
is the Venetian and now, just opened at the time of writing, the City of Dreams. Since 2001,4
Macao has also boasted a 338-meter towera waterfront folly known to some cynical locals as
Stanley Hos erection. And since 2004, there has been a third picturesque bridge linking pen-
insula Macao with the island of Taipa.
In 2010, despite the global recession and its bubble bursting effects, more monuments are
expected daily. These imposing structures have, unsurprisingly, become a subject for local art-
ists and writers. In Athena Kongs poem,Armageddon in Cotai, we get a hint of the apocalyptic
pretensions of the temple to Mammon built on an unprecedented scale:
night, starless
sky, inky
against the dark curtain
the winged lion landed on the arch
under his feet
lies the Rome built in days
at the moons eclipse
the lion bowed to the audience
opening his eyes to his enemy
across the bitumen river
Figure 2.WynnNote: Kenry Lee (2007) Wynn. Digital photograph. Image courtesy of Kenry Lee.
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144 Space and Culture 14(2)
dust, sand
twelve beasts stand on the planted forest
dividing the battlefields
the wordless lion stands confident
guarding his palace in wildernesshis prosperity in the desert
(Kelen & Vong, 2008, p. 257)
The monument in question here is the Venetian (opened 2007; see Figure 3). And inside the
worlds second largest building, Lili Hans poem Gondola, an adult voice interpolates the childs
view of something new and strangely alien:
like the crowd beside the water
a child looks at the gondola
through the iron fence
it is the first timeto see boating indoors
gondola comes from a water city
used to toy with flowers and grass
singing everywhere
now it learns to be a fish
in this clear pool of two hundred meters
after all, people wait in line
for its voicesmany even throw amorous glances
from above
but why is there no fish in the water?
the child walks away
Liar! Liar!
the child thinks
but doesnt hear
the voice hoarsein the air-conditioned hall
doesnt see
the gondola
failing to be a fish
so uttering no bubbles
(Kelen and Vong, 254)
What is a gondola doing in Macao? It is a prop, of course, for the Venetian Hotel/Casino
complex, the second largest building in the world and an imitation of an American (Las Vegas)
imitation of various architectural features of the Italian city of Venice (Figure 4). The chain of
borrowings will of course be opaque to the child, whose sense of what belongs or does not
belong in a place is based on limited experience. What is alien to the adult is not necessarily
alien to the child, but we are reminded through this train of thought that there are bizarre things
going unnoticed in Macao.
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Archer and Kelen 145
Macao is perhaps the worlds largest open-air museum of kitsch, a phenomenon for which the
casinos are largely responsible. Bizarre Vegas-style grandiosity is frequently combined with
tacky pseudo-Chinese add-on elements: The Emperor, The Pharaohs Palace, the Greek Mythol-
ogy Casino. There is no shortage of orientalizing (and self-orientalizing) in the concoctions
arrived at. Perhaps the most serviceable (and durable) example is in the bird cage of the old
Lisboa Hotel. This building, the early seventies landmark of Stanley Hos gambling empire, is
also thought to vaguely resemble an old-fashioned Chinese peasants hat. The smoke-filled5
desperation of the Lisboas large circular gaming rooms has been to Macaos cultural heart what
the Reading Room of the British Library is to Englandsapt setting for all kinds of intrigue,
material for fiction and for poetry.
Uniqueness Lost
In Macao, in the longue dure, a palpable entropy has been attributed to the difficulties of cul-
tural difference and distance, to EastWest mutual inscrutability, to the arduousness of crossing;
in short, to what could be described as the abstract idea of a border. Macao has been a laboratory
slide for hybridity. Some observers have been amazed at how the organisms on the slide have
tended to stick with their own kind over time, but in fact there have been all kinds of passage
across, all kinds of cultural, spiritual, and physical miscegenation. One recalls Audens famous
Macao sonnet,6 and the crossings implied in the juxtapositions he mentions.
Figure 3.Venetian under constructionNote: Adam Lampton (2007). Venetian under construction. C-print. Image courtesy of Adam Lampton.
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146 Space and Culture 14(2)
Rococo images of Saint and Saviour
Promise her gamblers fortunes when they die;
Churches beside the brothels testify
That faith can pardon natural behaviour.
(Auden, 1945, pp. 18-19)
The door of the church, of the brothel, the casinoeach presages a transformative passage. The
character coming out is not the one who went in. One might say of Audens Macao, it is the
metonymics make the place. The interesting thing about Macao is how things got to be next to
each other, how unexpected contiguities and conflations have generated meaning over time, and
how those meanings have differed according to point of view. Which things are of the past and
which are of the future?
Because of its small size, the uniqueness of particular landmarks has been a feature of local
self-consciousness of place in Macao. Just as before the second land crossing to the Mainland
(opened in 2000), there was only one border, so various other Macao features have lost unique-
ness through duplication arising from population pressures and development. Agnes Vongs
poem three provides a playful and colloquial take on one of the most visible of Macaos dupli-
cations, highlighting a practical side to the changes that have taken place in the most prominent
part of Macaos skylinethe outer harbour water between peninsula Macao and Taipa.
Figure 4.Venetian Casino Hotel #2Note: Kenry Lee (2009). Venetian Casino Hotel #2. Digital photograph. Image courtesy of Kenry Lee.
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Archer and Kelen 147
there used to be only one bridge
it had a name
but people simply called it the bridge
a second bridge was built
it also had a name
and in order to distinguish them
people called them the new bridge and the old bridge
now another bridge has been built
it also needs a name
and people are puzzled by what to call it
taxi drivers are more puzzled still
when the customer asks
ging sankiu, via the new bridge, please.
it was the same with casinos
once dou cheung, casino meant the Lisboa, Pou Geng
but now you could point in any direction
with bridges even three is too many
nowwhether its bridges or casinos
we have to remember the names
with only one or two of anythingpeople can keep their minds clear
but three is a big number to count to
and so finally, people remember
the second bridge
is called yao yi, the friendship bridge
but friendship with whom?
thats even harder to remember
. . . but we can try
once there was a little country
in Europe
and there was a celestial kingdom
and a little ship set sail
(Kelen & Vong, 2008, pp. 267-268)
The TaipaMacao Bridge (Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge) was once a singular entity. 7 The
second bridge (the Friendship Bridge referred to in Vongs poem) was built in 1994 andassociated with the opening of Macaos International Airport (located on reclaimed land attached
to Taipa). The third bridge (the Sai Van Bridge, opened in 2004; Figure 5), constructed to ease
traffic congestion, seemed to also serve the aesthetic function of providing some visual balance
to the recently constructed Macao Tower, which until that time, felt by many to have an
uncomfortably tottering aspect.
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148 Space and Culture 14(2)
Bridges, like borders, provide a convenient metaphor for crossing and for distances and of
differences to be spanned. In the case of Vongs poem, the proliferation of the metaphoric bridges
offers a tongue-in-cheek glimpse at the gap between the symbolic intentions of governments and
the practical concerns of people getting on with their everyday lives. Friendship with whom? Is
there any bridge to connect the popular consciousness with the symbolic means chosen to repre-
sent the people and their place? The last lines of the poem cast all the recent confusion into the
light of Macaos 500-year history. Perhaps it is surprising how simple a picture is revealed by the
concerted effort to remember where we are from and what is connected in our history.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, there was for practical purposes only one casino in Macao, the
one in the Hotel Lisboa; since the boom of the early noughties casinos have sprung up like mush-rooms all over the city. Whatever metaphoric or symbolic reading could be placed on the casino
motif must now have greater weight. Or one might picture things this wayonce Macao might
have been considered Hong Kongs casino; Hong Kong and Macao both being tiny dots (useful
or annoying aberrations on the littoral skin of communist China). Now Macao is capitalist Chi-
nas casino, and while the central government may take steps to control the flow of its citizens
into Macao, clearly the casino town is seen to have some useful function as a release value. Here
is a clear case of the meaning of Macao having shifted in a fundamental way, and beyond any
specific intention of, for instance, tourism authorities.
Macaos Gondola and Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice:Monuments to the New Macao
The two works of contemporary art selected to represent Macao in the 2007 Venice Biennale
wereMacaos Gondola, by Lui Chak Keong (Andr) and Lui Chak Hong and Si Monumentum
Figure 5. Macao Tower with Sai Van BridgeNote: Adam Lampton (2007).Macao Tower with Sai Van Bridge. C-print. Image courtesy of Adam Lampton.
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Archer and Kelen 149
Requiris, Circumspice by Konstantin Bessmertny. While Hong Kong has been included in the
prestigious international exhibition since 2001, this was Macaos inaugural appearance. The
works of art included in international survey exhibitions are always taken, to some degree, as
representative of their place of origin. The first Biennale exhibit from a relatively obscure loca-
tion such as Macao is especially important in this sense. As the press release accompanying the
exhibit stated, the Biennale provided an opportunity to introduce Macao art to the world.8 The
Venice Biennale is organized in a manner that underscores the relationship between works of artand national (and increasingly subnational categories) by presenting works in locality-themed
pavilions and sites.9 In addition, Macaos exhibition in the 2007 Venice Biennale was place-
related in a more concrete sensethe call for proposals issued by the Macao Museum of Art
specified that place was to be the theme of the submitted works.10 That document defined
place in broad terms. It explained that the meaning of place differs according to individual
circumstances and that the concept spans the concrete place where we locate ourselves and a
special region for our imaginations and memories.11 For our current purposes, two questions
are pertinent. To what extent are the two works that were exhibited in Venice,Macaos Gondola
and Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice, Macao specific? And should they be considered
monuments to todays Macao?
Bessmertnys Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice (Figure 6) is a sculpture that was
installed next to the water outside Macaos exhibition venue, the Infopoint Arte Communica-
tions.12 The work is clearly a vehicle, but a quirky and hybrid one. It has the wheels of a bicycle,
Figure 6.Si Monumentum Requiris , CircumspiceNote: Konstantin Bessmertny, 2007, Si Monumentum Requiris , Circumspice. Mixed media and recycled materials. Imagecourtesy of the artist and Amelia Johnson Contemporary.
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150 Space and Culture 14(2)
Figure 7.Si Monumentum Requiris , Circumspice (detail)Note: Konstantin Bessmertny (2007). Si Monumentum Requir is, Circumspice (detail). Mixed media and recycled materials.Image courtesy of the artist and Amelia Johnson Contemporary.
porthole-style windows, the boxy shape of a van, and the homely interior of a caravan. And, with
its plank-like wings, it also resembles an aeroplane. The words fly less underline this interpre-
tation, and it is reinforced by Bessmertny himself, who describes the piece as a construction thatloosely resembles a plane, made of recycled and found materials.13 Bessmertnys statement in
the catalog that accompanied the Place exhibition begins, Flying in the sky was a dream that
humankind long pursued and has now been fulfilled by the invention of the aeroplane, a symbol
of dreams that has created a new chapter in the history of communication and invention.14
Vehicular connotations aside, Si Monumentum has the characteristics of a number of architec-
tural forms. From the outside, this roughly constructed plywood, metal, and glass structure is
reminiscent of a temporary dwelling. It has doors, windows, and electricity. Details such as the
plastic strip covering the join between the walls and roof suggest that it would probably, despite
the hasty-looking construction style, provide adequate shelter (Figure 7). With its graffiti-
covered plywood walls, the piece mimics the worksite aesthetic so ubiquitous in construction-
boom Macao.
A look through the windows ofSi Monumentum reveals a very different kind of place. The
red textile-covered walls are
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Archer and Kelen 151
covered with fake paintings from Zhuhai in Baroque-style frames. There are copies of
Canalettos Venice with inscriptions added by me saying: View of the Inner Harbour.
Macau. China.15
The crystal chandelier that lights up the interior is too large for the tiny space, and the overalleffect calls to mind the decoration typical of casinos and the homes of the self-consciously
wealthy. Phrases such as Casino Republic and gamble, stenciled onto the outside of the
structure, support a reading of the interior as a casino. It is unsurprising that casino kitsch has
found its way into contemporary Macao art.16 What is remarkable about Si Monumentum,
however, is the ambiguity of its subject matter. It is at once an indeterminate vehicle and an
architectural structure. Its exterior is reminiscent of a low-cost dwelling or site shed while the
interior calls to mind an ostentatious domestic space or a casino. But the resemblance to Macao
is perhaps most apparent in the stylistic features of Si Monumentum. The contrast between the
gaudy richness of the interior space and its modest exterior is echoed across the contemporary
Macao cityscape. Showy buildings emerge from behind rough plywood walls. Walking around
Macao, one readily finds examples of similarly makeshift workmanship. This pragmatic style ofconstruction contrasts sharply with the over-worked interiors of the casinos with their heavy-
handed evocations of riches and power.
A parallel may also be drawn between the scale of Si Monumentums oversized chandelier,
and a curious aspect of the contemporary Macao skyline. With the completion of the Macao
Tower in 2004, a chapel at the top of Penha Hill which has been a landmark for sailors since
1622, suddenly appeared Lilliputian. A similar fate threatened the Guia Lighthouse when three
monster buildings were proposed for an adjacent site, provoking the formation of the League
of Guia Lighthouse Protectors.17 The scale of the new Venetian Macao casino and hotel resort is
an overwhelming presence. Bessmertnys piece echoes the disjunction between the scale of
Macaos older buildings and its new landmarks and casinos.Macaos Gondola by Lui Chak Keong (Andr) and Lui Chak Hong was positioned inside the
Infopoint Arte Communications Gallery (see Figure 8).18 At first glance, Macaos Gondola
appears to be a place-specific work in a more straightforward sense than Si Monumentum. The
installation consisted of a 4-m long gondola-like form that was accompanied by three columns,
the tallest of which was around 2 m in height. The four pieces, all rendered in solid concrete,
were installed on an incomplete screen of mirrors arranged to partially cover the tiled floor of the
gallery.
The subject matter ofMacaos Gondola is intriguingly indeterminate. The work incorporates
elements from Macaos two most prominent historical buildings. The gondola-like form repli-
cates a roofing element of Macaos oldest and best-known Chinese place of worship, the A-Matemple. The three columns are copied from the faade of Macaos trademark Portuguese icon, the
Ruins of St. Pauls church. While the Chinese and Western architectural traditions have existed
in Macao, for the most part, in parallel,Macaos Gondola incorporates an example of east-meets-
west architectural hybriditythe column that incorporates a Chinese lion is a genuine architec-
tural feature of St. Pauls church. InMacaos Gondola, however, this exception becomes the rule.
In terms of its stylistic qualities,Macaos Gondola references the local context. Rather than
marble or polished wood,Macaos Gondola is constructed from undisguised concrete, a material
that has more in common with the local construction boom environment than the world of high
art. The uniform color of the work, closer to the neutral tones of the Ruins of St. Pauls rather
than the bright hues of A-Ma temple, contributes to the seamless integration of visually and cul-
turally distinct architectures (see Figure 9).
However, Macaos Gondola does not simply reproduce key signifiers of Macaos dual cul-
tural heritage, it reconfigures them as a gondola, complete with mooring posts. The gondola
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152 Space and Culture 14(2)
imagery is an overt reference to both the site of the Biennale and Macaos Venetian casino. In
its evocation not only of Macaos Chinese and Western architectural heritage but of the recent
developments in contemporary casino Macao, the work mimics the official discourses of
Macao tourism. Conflating Chinese, Western, and contemporary subject matter,Macaos Gon-
dola unsettlesviewers illusions about the status of the work as a genuine cultural and historical
artifact. The technique of pastiche was consciously adopted with a critical intention in mind.The closing lines of the Lui brothers catalog statement read,
Through their work of art, Macaos Gondola, featuring the A-Ma Temple, the oldest
temple in Macao, and the Ruins of St Pauls, one of the territorys oldest churches, together
with a concrete gondola that cannot be used in waterthe Lui brothers are conveying the
message that our heritage is in fact sinking.19
What contribution do the titles ofMacaos Gondola and Si Monumentum make to our reading
of the two works? IfMacaos Gondola is a title that underlines the place specificity of the work,
it also implies that what we are viewing is a version of a gondola that might be found
elsewhereat the Las Vegas Venetian, for instance, or in Venice. Bessmertnys title, on the other
hand, takes the form of a quotation in the dead language of Latin. The meaning of the word
Figure 8. Lui Chak Keong (Andr) and Lui Chak Hong (2007).Macaos Gondola. Concrete and mirrorpanels. Image courtesy of Lui Chak Keong (Andr) and Lui Chak Hong.
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Archer and Kelen 153
monumentum is self-evident, and Bessmertnys rough translation of the phrase is inscribed on
the outside of the work: Looking for monument? Look around. More precisely translated as
if you seek his monument, look around, the phrase is the epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren, who
is buried inside the building he most famously designed, Londons St. Pauls Cathedral (1710).
This title encourages us to read the piece as a monument as well as an ambiguous vehicle and
an architectural structure. It begs the question ofwho thisMonumentum commemoratesWren,
Bessmertny, God, or man? Either way, the title adds an additional place-specific reference tothe work, reminding us that London, like Macao, also has its own St. Pauls.
Representations of Macao?
BothMacaos Gondola and Si Monumentum refer to places other than Macao, and particularly to
Venice. The languages used on the sides ofSi Monumentum include Latin, as well as the Portu-
guese, Chinese, and English commonly used in Macao. The copy-paintings within the piece are
depictions of Venice, but some of them are named after Macaos Nam Van Lake and the Inner
Harbour. In a comparable fashion, Macaos Gondola refers to Venicethe home of the gon-
dolaas well as Macaos Venetian Casino. Although Macao and Venice have no particular his-
torical connection, both works draw a parallel between the two centers that have served as
emporia for maritime trade between the East and the West.
Figure 9. RuinsNote: Amy Wong (2009). Ruins. Digital photograph. Image courtesy of Amy Wong.
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154 Space and Culture 14(2)
Might Marc Augs (1995) distinction between anthropological place and nonplace pro-
vide an insight into the ambiguous geographic and sociohistorical references ofSi Monumen-
tum andMacaos Gondola? Aug associates nonplaces with airports, supermarkets, highways
and tourist routesplaces defined in part by the words and texts they offer us: their [prescrip-
tive, prohibitive, or informative] instructions for use (p. 96). Anthropological place is distin-guished from nonplace as follows:
Anthropological place is formed by individual identities, through complicities of language,
local references, the unformulated rules of living know-how; nonplace creates the shared
identity of passengers, customers or Sunday drivers. No doubt, the relative anonymity that
goes with this temporary identity can even be felt as a liberation, by people who, for a time,
have only to keep in line, go where they are told, check their appearance. (p. 101)
Aug (1995) describes nonplaces as spaces formed in relation to certain ends (transport,
transit, commerce, leisure), claiming that they create solitary contractuality as opposed to the
organically social quality associated with anthropological places (p. 94). According to Aug,the categories of place and nonplace are not mutually exclusive. Rather, in contemporary
societies, they are usually intertwined:
The possibility of non-place is never absent from any place. Place becomes a refuge to the
habitu of non-places (who may dream, for example, of owning a second home rooted in
the depths of the countryside). (p. 107)
Macaos Gondola and Si Monumentum represent anthropological place to the extent that they
refer, through their complex subject matter and their stylistic features, to present-day Macao and
its history. But the places implied by Si Monumentum and Macaos Gondola exceed Macaosborders: There are references to Venice, for instance, and to what we might call casino
aesthetics. Arguably, the places implied by the two works have been formed in relation to
certain endstourism, gambling, and class-conscious display come readily to mind. But these
works are too densely referential to meet Augs definition of the nonplace.
Aug (1995) links vehicles to the increasing speed of supermodernity, but here again his
description is a bad fit for the two Macao works. The vehicles indicated by Si Monumentum and
Macaos Gondola are patently dysfunctional. The wheels on Si Monumentum are too flimsy
even to bear its weight. Read as a dwelling, it is also inadequate, the apparently luxurious inte-
rior is too cramped to allow occupancy. Si Monumentum suggests that Macaos supposed prog-
ress, and pretensions of habitability, are seriously flawed. A reading of the work as visualizationof a double failure is reinforced by the artists catalog statement:
Anchored in the sea adjacent to Giardini in Venice is an aeroplane that is ready to reveal
what life in a maze looks like . . . It is not a plane for flying, nor is it a place for living in. 20
Can the interior decoration of the structure be read as a criticism of Macaos development?
The furnishings and paintings amount to a certain kind of cultural capital, to borrow
Bourdieus term. The gilt-framed copy-paintings, the red walls, and the chandelier exemplify the
tastes of the aspiring rich and cultured, rather than those of the avant-garde or the intelligentsia.
The marked contrast between this interior and the exterior walls, with their recycling symbols
and the injunction to fly less, serves to underline the decadence of the former space. The
implication is that this low-brow version of culture is, to use Bessmertnys phrase, the culture of
the casino republic. The artists statement suggests that the work was intended to be read in
this way:
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Archer and Kelen 155
Through this piece of art, the artist wants to satirise the vanity of the new-rich in Macao
and other parts of the world. Yet, isnt it the noble life that people aspire to? 21
Macaos Gondola is also a construction that does not live up to its promise as a vehicle. The
narrow gondola form is solid rather than hollow, and no provision has been made for theimagined passengers or a gondolier. Given its solid concrete construction, if this gondola were
ever tested, there is no doubt that it would sink like a stone. Does Macaos Gondola imply that
Macao is losing its liveability along with its cultural heritage?
Quirky and atavistic, Si Monumentum andMacaos Gondola are invented vehicles that bear
little relationship to Augs (1995) notions of anthropological place and nonplace. They
evoke the specificity of Macao but resist essentialist representations of the local, which could be
achieved, for instance, through a juxtaposition of authentic signifiers of Macao with those of
globally recognizable nonplaces. Instead, the two works demonstrate the complexity of Macao
space by showing the manner in which local culture and aesthetics are interpenetrated by, and
continuous with, those ofspecific extra-Macao places.
Macao Monuments, Border Consciousness
Conventional monuments may take the form of sculptures, buildings, or other structures
designed to commemorate notable persons or events. Historically, monuments have often
entailed messages related to civic virtues, functioning to bolster a political status quo. The
word monumentaldraws attention to the physical presence and symbolic weight associated
with the conventional monument. In recent years, the term countermonumenthas been coined
to refer to monuments that register protest or disagreement with an untenable prime object22
or that, as is increasingly the case, carry critical messages that are more diffuse and open to
personal interpretation.23A good example of a countermonument of the former type is Jimmie Durhams Arche de
Triumphe for Personal Use (1996), described by Nikos Papastergiardis (2005) as follows:
Durham has constructed a mini-archway. It is made of cheap wood and found objects. The
imperial function of the archway is ridiculed by its domestication and diminution in value
. . . By reducing the monumental and public display of power into a personal item Durham
is also referencing the countless strategies of inverting and displacing political authority
through indigenous acts of cultural incorporation and mimicry. (p. 42)
Interestingly, Macaocountry-in-little as we may consider itcomes with its own miniatureportal, the now preserved border gate,,portas do cercoa key site in the poetic imagina-
tion of the city (see Figure 10). Over the gate of this 1870 structure, the legend: A Ptria Honrai
Que APatria Vos Contempla. In Leung Ping-Kwans poem the border, we glimpse the 1970s
incarnation of this site of passage:
the border
bus stops for a rest
and goes again
tourists lazily pass through
the narrow gate
stop for a while and gaze at
young girls sat laughing by the stone wall
soft drink bottle
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156 Space and Culture 14(2)
by antique store
a foreigner comes by
picks up a Buddha statue
would you like to buy jade?
the old lady peddles enthusiasticallyalthough this is fake jade,
there are others . . .
can nobody see
a purer jade
behind these things?
the tricycle drivers finger
points at the row of green trees
eyes gaze
on the empty vehicle
coming from the border
runs over the mudlines in brown
then turns into another road
on this cloudy day, wind blows
tears the map in the tourists hands
August, 1973
revised in January, 1975
Song Zijiang, Debby Sou Vai Keng, & Kit Kelen, trans.
(Leung, 2009, pp. 22-25)
The crossing with which the poem deals has been rebuilt several times since this poem was
written (most recently in 2004), and it is difficult to imagine a stronger contrast than between
the sleepy picture painted above and the present state of frenetic activity around Macaos old
border.24 Those passing the border today seem driven, impatient in queues, anxious to get past
this line, which represents paradoxically both an impediment and an opportunity for business.
In Leungs work, we can regard the border as representing a radical indeterminacy. What does
it mean to be on one side or the other? How does that meaning shift with point of view, with the
passage of time? From the point of view of nature (cloudy day, wind blowing), we see the
irrelevance of this arbitrary political line. From the point of view of small business, the border
in Leungs poem is an opportunity for sales. It is the Buddha statue that interests the tourist, butthe stall keeper wants the tourist to buy jade. Between the tourist and vendor a disarming
honesty, highlightingin an implied motion from concrete to abstractthe question of what is
real and what is fake. Which, for instance, is the real China? The land where antiques are still
valued or the place where the four olds have been outlawed? The engine of the piecethe bus
with which we beganneeds to take a rest. This anthropomorphism sets the tone; it is not that
passage is impossible, one merely wonders whether the effort is justified. The overall impression
is of the mundane place invested with a symbolic importance it cannot live up to. The weather
and humanity, in its less self-important guise, get on with and get around the great geopolitical
facts as imposed.
There is an interesting contrast between the carefully wrought flatness of Leungs long lost
border and the symbolic dimensions of the portal played out in Joey Hos Gate of Memory:
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Archer and Kelen 157
Gate of Memory
What is hidden?
Rays of the afternoon sun on roofs . . .
What lies hidden among them?
Golden dust flying . . .
Whats hidden in air?
A baby plunged in sleep, in dreams . . .And what is hidden there?
The heat of her mother, her fan . . .
Hides what?
Kisses . . .
Whats hidden in them?
Gate of Memory
What is hidden?
(Kelen & Vong, 2008, p. 238)
The emphasis on the gate reminds us of a time when the Macao/mainland portal was a much
humbler and narrower affair, though in its own (Portuguese) way grand. The maternal
Figure 10. Border GateNote: Song Zijiang (2009). Border Gate. Digital photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
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158 Space and Culture 14(2)
relationship and its mysteries suggest both the necessity of dependence and the contrast between
vast China and tiny Macao. Although the poem need not be taken as having any specific
connection with any political border, still it reminds us that there are things to be remembered.
One thinks of how borders entail other bordersfor example, between generations, between the
future and the past. The repeated question, What is hidden, suggests both the necessity ofinterpretation and the possibility of a sinister intention. Again, one asks which would be the
innocent and which the experienced party in this relationship. Is the obvious answer the right
one? Things may be hidden in the dreams of infants. Though tiny Macao can itself be thought
of as a borderan airlockbetween east and west, yet it takes an effort of memory to assert
what the meaning of a place might have been, might yet be. Interestingly, for the thematics of
this article, one notes the paradox of the border having grown monumental with need, of the
authentic monument (the border gate of 1870) appearing now in the guise of a miniature passed
en route. The past is a small and sparse place; an everyday site/sight fallen, for the most part,
below the threshold of interest.
Following Augs distinction between anthropological and nonplace, we may claim a dichot-
omy in the local culture of Macao between Macao space and nonplace. Macao space is uniquelyof an historical moment and place, something culturally positioned. In nonplaces, such as the inside
of a casino or an airport, subjects are hailed by consumption-oriented reifications of putative uni-
versal value. In the terms Umberto Eco elaborates in The Role of the Reader, we recognize in
nonplace a closed text, that is, a text in which the addressee is not invited to participate actively
but is rather offered a predetermined role, open neither to interpretation nor negotiation. Macao
space, being particular, is contingent. Having a history, it can have a future. The contemporary
Macao poetry typically values Macao space and sees it as under threat from the non-negotiable
space of culture that could be anywhere. The three-dimensional artworks described in this article
are vehicles paradoxically frozen in space that is ambiguous, makeshift, allusive of elsewhere.
In Loi Chi Pangs poem, to Coloane, we get a picture of nonplaces being added to Macao:
little city too cramped
so cramped that there is only space left for muttering
the many roads not taken knit into a helpless net
skims from my eyes
under the net there is such a stunning hope
a naming for all kinds of new things
simply
a word
cold
the autumn of September here is a book of sorrow more than sadness
so sad that the egret cant stand any longer under the mangroves
holding up an oilpaper umbrella to Coloane
I cant see rain
but only
ashes and stones of the cement trucks
flying past
and
the Cotai Strip
still under construction
Hilda Tam & Kit Kelen, trans.
(kelen & Vong, 2008, p. 290)
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Archer and Kelen 159
Here, witnessing the process of reclamation shows us that liminal space cannot become a part
of the known place. The egret will be deprived of its mangrove; instead the new things are
worthy only of the word cold. This is nonplace in the making; and it is made of ashes and
cement, of anything.
Monumentality and the Meaning of Place
ShouldMacaos Gondola and Si Monumentumbe understood as monuments, or perhaps, coun-
termonuments? Large-scale and patently solid,Macaos Gondola differs from Jimmie Durhams
Arche de Triumphe for Personal Use, in that it actually appears monumental. Indeed, it borrows
the canonic ambiance of its World Heritagelisted source material. But in blending signifiers of
A-Ma temple, the Ruins of St. Pauls and a Venetian gondola, the work undermines the authen-
ticity the viewer would likely associate with each considered in isolation from the others. Despite
its apparent monumentality,Macaos Gondola is a simulated cultural artifacta concoction that
mimics the reified image of Macao used to sell the small territory to potential visitors and inves-
tors. Given this critical dimension, the work is more aptly termed a counter-monument.The rather grandly titled Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice claims the status of a monu-
ment from the outset. Yet the small-scale, quirky, and unassuming structure is decidedly unmon-
umental. Although the conventional monument tends to promote a sense of unified national
identity, the linguistically diverse graffiti and the Chinese-produced western paintings of Si
Monumentum do just the opposite, pointing up the culturally hybridity of Macao. The diverse
worlds evoked by the exterior of Bessmertnys cobbled-together structure are at odds with the
standardized version of culture it contains. Yet, likeMacaos Gondola, the work is open to per-
sonal interpretation, and this was the artists intention:
The idea was to juxtapose inside and outside, the place you are in and the place ofyour dreams, what you have and what you wish to have, the fake and the real and
so on . . . Its more the work of an art critic, really. These are some reflections on what is
going on in Macau, of course, and could be interpreted in many ways.25
Nikos Papastergiadis (2005) claims that the recent acceleration of cross-cultural flows and
processes of cultural mixture have produced new forms of identity (p. 54). Antimonuments to
the new Macao, Macaos Gondola and Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice both express
ambivalence toward the complex dynamics of development in Macao. Not without humor, the
two works appear to celebrate cultural diversity and hybridity. Closer examination, however,
reveals a less sanguine picture of contemporary Macao culture. The interior ofSi Monumentumsurely presents a critique of reified populist notions of culture while the Lui Brothers all-
purpose monument registers the loss of Macao heritage.Macaos Gondola and Si Monumentum
Requiris, Circumspice reflect the concern of a cultural community galvanized by the threats
posed by recent development.
Are the meanings of Macaoand the identifications of its citizenrytied up with the monu-
mental or with some popular or aesthetic commitment to monumentality? Not at all; this is
merely convenient and indeed pressing subject matter for those artists committed to bearing wit-
ness to their place (or incapable of ignoring what is going on around them). Everything monu-
mental in Macao is redolent of powerstate or casino capitalistimposed on a local population
with a tourist economy in mind and with a view to awe, if not shock. Note that the plonking down
of grandiloquent structures has in Macao typically required the creation of nonplaces, in the form
of land reclaimed from the Pearl River. And so the city physically grows, but perhaps Macao
does not?
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160 Space and Culture 14(2)
Much of Macaos literary and visual culture continues to refer to the historicized city and its
now dwarfed landmarks. Apart from borders and bridges and casinos, there are many places in
this tiny city iconic to its residents and regular visitors. Arguably, the main street, San Ma Lou is
a case in point. It is a physical focus (and convenient place mnemonic) in Part III of Ng Kuok
Cheongs a young married womans worries.
San Ma LouAvenida de Almeida Ribeiro
at crossroads tower two giants east and west
one is called the remote vast
great Atlantic Ocean
he faces the other whos even higher
comes from the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers
the two obviously stand independent
the divine rule of change is the interplay of yin and yang
some people say they see in the morning
some shadow stretching from the big oceanhappens to knock on this side of the door
then the shadow on the same side recoils
swallows the whole ocean
shadow is the suns
distant unreachable play
but every day taking the purse
and carrying the basket what I step
on is always the road
not the shadow
(Kelen & Vong, 2008, p. 118)
China and the Westyin and yangsun and shadow: The contrasts here provide a daunting
field of play for the persona, a character ultimately concerned with something as mundane and
as fundamental as shopping. Faced with a grand metaphorics demanding interpretation (and
obeisance), the persona decides in favour of the tangible real. What the young married woman
steps on is the road: She goes the way she has to go. Both the symbolism and the politics are
highly personal: We see in the next section of the poem that issues as to what Macao is or could
be directly affect the personas life choices. In Part IV,
to have a baby or not?to have one more little spoon or not?
to share this big bowl of sweet
glistening yellow papaya soup?
to have ten-month pregnancy or not?
five-months of big belly
three-months throwing up
and one week in the delivery room
waiting to sweat contractions
and the baby struggles to come out
that terrible tearing
if Id like to create a baby
you must create for me
a considerate husband
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Archer and Kelen 161
a father who loves his family
healthy lively kindergartens
schools that develop balanced lives
and meet the needs of our next generation
an all functioning societya fair world
I am not willing
to take bloody pains
in exchange for a baby
trodden or
treading
Song Zijiang & Kit Kelen, trans.
(Kelen & Vong, 2008, p. 119)
Ngs implied demand in the poem is that the social contract be renegotiated at a fundamental level.Why should the young married woman bring a baby into a predatory society (trodden and/or
treading)? Again, the method in bringing such a question to the readers attention is to cut through
the symbolic machinery with which the good citizen is meant to conform. Instead, we are offered
concrete imagerybloody pains, throwing up, terrible tearing and yes, also the tenderness of the big
bowl of sweet glistening yellow papaya soup. The idyllic and the desperate images are connected in
the idea of exchange; whats under interrogation here is value. At what price a baby? For whose
benefit? The ultimate taken-for-granted good of motherhood is thrown into question; and with it the
future of a place and the possibility of identification with that place. Because Macao is the putative
subnational entity for which sacrifices would be made and by which benefits would be bestowed, the
questions asked are relevant everywhere in Macao. It is the mention of many familiar places remindsMacao residents of the problematic connection between place and identity.
To conclude, we hope it will not be construed as a defense of the various juggernauts riding
over local culture when we say that the current healthy state of Macao poetry and visual culture
is both product of a perceived need to defend Macao culture from attack and proof that Macao
culture is today alive and kicking. Macao has become a place with landmarks of postmoder-
nitya tower and casinos with notable names and shapesthe Sands, the Wynn, the Crown, the
Venetian. What magical names and what fairytale hype surround them! Macao was once a sleepy
little town on the edge of the map. It is interesting that the process of making nowhere some-
where has entailed the colonization of that particular places space with things that could be
anywhere, with phallic monumentalism.The best thing to do with all of this? The scholar and the artist have this capacity in com-
monto bear witness to what is happening in and to their place. That process of bearing witness
might entail the ironizing of the monumental or the pointing up of cracks to threaten a great
edifice. Witnessing environmental degradation and the sense of heritage lost is the flipside of
development aesthetics in casino-age Macao. Things gone are witnessed along with the new
things that have come. Macao as dot-on-the-map is conceived as a site for all kinds of portal
semiotics, as paradigm for cultural crossings and cultural shifts. Symbolic of the moral inertia
that the hype cannot quite cover over, the Lui Brothers and Bessmertnys vehicles going nowhere
point to the essential contradiction: between the long shadows of the Chinese state and those of
casino capitalism, Macao culture is really going somewhere.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication
of this article.
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162 Space and Culture 14(2)
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
Notes
1. Important to such an account would be the literature on the social and cultural impacts of the Macaosrapid development, including scholarly articles such as Liu Shih-Dings Casino Colony (2008),
Tim Simpsons Macao, Capital of the 21st Century? (2008a) and The Commercialisation of
Macaos Cafes (2008b). There are many articles on these topics in the popular press. See, for instance,
Casino layoffs give teachers chance to push education (Fox, 2008); Macaus casinos promise perpetual
profit (Gough, 2008) and Fashion Group Expands to Tap Big Spenders in Macau (Spiro, 2007). Also
available are studies addressing the changing political landscape in the post-Handover period, such as Bill
K. P. Chous Interest Group Politics in Macau after Handover (2005).
2. The liberalization of the casino industry in 2002 entailed the breaking of the former monopoly of
local tycoon Stanley Ho, and allowing a number of Las Vegas operators into the city.
3. Land reclaimed, between the islands of Taipa and Coloane, and with the specific intention of building
a casino strip.
4. Up until the opening of the Macao Tower, the tallest structure in Macao had been the (1991 built) Bank
of China building (38 floors, 163 meters), a symbol at the time of the enclaves impending return to the
motherland.
5. Smoking has recently been banned on the lower floor.6. Although the poem underwent revision, the stanza cited remained unchanged.7. The original (Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge) was built in 1974. Access to the previously sparsely
populated islands of Taipa and outlying Coloane had formerly been by ferry.
8. Macaos debut appearance in this prestigious exhibition had a key role, as the Macao Museum of ArtPress Release states, in introducing the contemporary art of Macao to the world. It was also seen as a
stimulus to the local creation of art. Macao Museum of Art: Place http://www.artecommunications.
com/upload/MACAO_PRESS%20RELEASE_si.pdf
9. A Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, Macao is a subnational entity.10. The jury comprised Yin Shuangxi (Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing), Gao Shim-
ing (art critic and curator at the China Academy of Art) and Ung Vai Meng (Director of Macao Museum
of Art).
11. The call for proposals for inclusion in the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia:Macao, China was posted on the Macao Museum of Arts website. http://www.artmuseum.gov.mo/
showacts_detail.asp?id=123&language=3&type=0
12. The venue for the Macao exhibition was Infopoint Arte CommunicationsRiva S. Biagio, Castello2145, 30122, Venice. The duration of the exhibition was from 10 June until 21 November, 2007.
13. Konstantin Bessmertny in interview with Carol Archer, Edictus Ridiculum: Konstantin Bessmertny[interview].Macau Closer, July/August, 2007, p. 111.
14. Konstantin Bessmertny: Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice. InPlaces: A Collection of Worksfrom Macao for the Venice Biennale [exh. cat.]. Macao: Museu de Arte de Macau; Assuntos Civicos eMunicipais, 2007. p. 26.
15. Konstantin Bessmertny in interview with Carol Archer, Edictus Ridiculum: Konstantin Bessmertny[interview].Macau Closer, July/August, 2007, p. 112.
16. For instance, one of the nine works short-listed for the Macaos 2009 Venice Biennale exhibition (thetitle of which is Divergence) was Wu Chong Wais sculpture Sky City. The work features a roulette
wheel adorned with gaudily dressed Barbie dolls, a juxtaposition that reminds viewers of the links
between Macaos gambling and sex industries. In an interesting parallel to Bessmertnys piece, Sky
City takes the form of a hot air balloonone that, given the size and apparent weight of the wooden
basket relative to the small balloon, could clearly never function. SeeDivergence: Macaos Proposed
Artworks for the 53rd Venice Biennale: 25/03-21/06/2009. [exh. cat.]. Macao: Macao Museum of Art,2009.
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Archer and Kelen 163
17. Xavier Leroy notes in his brief article Guia Light thatthis was the first western-style lighthouse built on the China coast . . . In July 2007, an organization
called the League of Guia Lighthouse Protectors filed a complaint to the UNESCO World Heritage
Centre about the Macau governments wavering stance on the protection of the lighthouse and the
construction of high-rise buildings in front of Guia Hill.
Lighthouse Depot (website) http://www.lighthousedepot.com/lite_explorer.asp?action=display_details
&LighthouseID=8262&bhcd2=1243934594 [Accessed 2 June, 2009]. See also Suki Leong (2007).
18. In an unpublished interview with Carol Archer on February 15, 2009, Lui Chak Keong (Andr)explained that the artists original intention had been to exhibit the work outside. However, municipal
council restrictions on the size of works exhibited outside led to the change of site.
19. Lui Chak Keong; Lui Chak Hong: Macaos Gondola. InPlaces: A Collection of Works from Macaofor the Venice Biennale [exh. cat.]. Macao: Museu de Arte de Macau; Assuntos Civicos e Municipais,
2007, p. 23. Lui Chak Keong (Andr) is an architect with academic qualifications in the area of heritage
preservation. During my interview with him, Andr discussed his participation on a committee set up
to advise the Macao government on heritage matters. He questions the continual use of the Ruins of
St. Pauls and A-Ma temple to promote Macao when so many other buildings and districts could serve
this purpose. While a limited number of sites and buildings have been preserved, he says, less promi-
nent but nevertheless important ones, have been destroyed. In some cases, the apparent preservation of
buildings and districts amounts to the kind of facadism and constructed heritage that the artist notes
is in evidence in some supposedly old districts of Beijing. Lui is also critical of the recent practice
whereby Chinese cities each have a theme park style attraction, such as Shenzhens Windows on the
World, a practice that he notes has recently been adopted by Macao.
20. Konstantin Bessmertny: Si Monumentum, Requiris In Places: A Collection of Works from Macaofor the Venice Biennale [exh. cat.]. Macao: Museu de Arte de Macau; Assuntos Civicos e Municipais,2007, p. 26.
21.Macao Museum of Art: Place. http://www.artecommunications.com/upload/MACAO_PRESS%20RE-LEASE_si.pdf
22. Michalski (1998, p. 201).23. Michalski (1998, p. 202).24. The border is with the Gongbei district of Zhuhai.25. Konstantin Bessmertny (interview with Carol Archer),Macau Closer, p. 112.References
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Bios
Carol Archer () is an assistant professor in the Visual Studies Department at Lingnan University in
Hong Kong. She publishes essays on contemporary art. Her current research, on modes of collaborative
painting and drawing, is informed by her ongoing engagement in collaborative art projects.
Christopher (Kit) Kelen () is an associate professor in the Department of English, University of
Macau. His most recent volumes of poetry are God Preserve Me From Those Who Want Whats Best for Me
(2009) andIn Conversation With the River(2010). Last year, he published a critical study of Macao poetry,
titled City of Poets. For the past 10 years, he has taught Literature and Creative Writing at the University of
Macau in south China.