Leaving Las Vegas

(notes: invited by the HongKong artist and co-ordinator Breatrix Pang, I have written the following article about Macao's cultural scene for a publication of the Guangzhou Triennial 2005 - The Pearl River Delta Project.)




Macao.

It is often with a lot of affection that a Macanese talks about their government.

And here might be some of the reasons…

We trust our decision makers.
They have decided to make Macao as pretty as Las Vegas, as shinny as gold, as colourful as rainbow.

With the gambling industry expanding itself with billions of US dollars’ revenues and creating thousands of working opportunities, the government has not only taken care of the unemployment problem, but to our surprise, we artists are invited to be part of the appointment.

In less than ten years, the government has recruited most artists into the public services departments. Not only are we legitimate now under the grand label of Leisure and Culture, and the compensation is a reassuring one. With satisfactory income every month; we are even guaranteed of our retirement.

And if the gambling ambience is disturbing our conscience, the government would keep us from the devil as far away as possible: in the contracts of employment, government employees are not allowed to enter the casinos except during the first three days of Chinese New Year; we are of course allowed to have some fun.

It is truly the artists’ haven. No more worry, no complain. In order to let us live happily ever forever, the government has even built the Art Museum.

So that we can all folk together and do the one thing that we are asked to do: to contemplate.

The effort is obvious, and we all appreciate. Up to here, the fairy tale goes perfectly well, except this one main point: contemplation marks the end of creation; it simply leads to the death of artist.

The government policy is in fact killing the identities of artists and turning them into administrative workers in the cultural departments. The frustration is inevitable. By including and transforming the artists into public functions, the government is cancelling them out of the society as individual artists. Clear positions are required to maintain social balance. Artists’ role is to be situated in between, we represent dialogue. We act as a mirror, we reflect. We are the bridging function between imaginations and realities, we should be able to be the link; to communications.

However, the artistic situation in Macao is that general audience and public do not understand our art works, the opinion is often disappointment. Sometimes they appreciate, but they do not feel concerned. That is because the art works have not been made for them. We are living in such a complaisant environment it’s as if we do not need an audience. We are being sadly deluded.

Meanwhile, the government is orchestrating the same tactic to the population, seemingly organising fruitful cultural activities such as exhibitions and artistic competitions, but factually promoting the omnipresent and sterile ideology of complaisance and comfort: Macao is our home, Macao is all good! The recent membership of the UNESCO patrimonies has been celebrated so ardently by the government, while the architectural landscape of Macao is turning into a Disney Land! And not even an authentic one!

Efforts there were we have to admit, but unfortunately they are of such superficial qualities that we should start to ask ourselves if we are being tricked by the politics. As artists, we have to clear ourselves out of the illusion of seeming prosperity and stand up against falsehood.

If we truly want to carry out works about Art and Culture, we have to turn our vision towards people. Let us face the facts. Let us simply go inside the casino and take a look at how our Macanese youth is working around the gaming tables. If we truly want to be accepted by the community as what we are, then we should stick to our role. We should turn these social issues into forms through our artistic talents. Our mission is to speak up, not to keep silent.

If indeed, we would never be able to change History, and we are not made to be decision makers in Politics, then at least let us talk frankly about it.

There is no other way to be artists unless we create.




澳門

文︰郭恬熙
翻譯︰丁燕燕

每每談論到澳門政府時，澳門人總會變得感情豐富起來。

以下要說的，可能便是其中的一些原因…

我們信任我們的政策制定者。
這些政制者決意要把澳門打造得如拉斯維加斯般美輪美奐、如黃金般閃耀奪目、如彩虹般燦爛繽紛。

當賭業正不斷擴張發展，年年進賬數十億美元大鈔，為澳門創造數千就業機會時，政府不但舒緩了失業問題，同時還十分出奇地周詳，連我們藝術家也被邀入這個「就業大軍」中。

在短短不足十年的光景，政府己廣泛招攬大部份藝術家投身公共服務事業。我們的工作在「文化藝術」的閃亮招牌下合法化，而且還有非常合理的回報。我們不但每個月領著可觀的薪水，甚至連退休計劃也有了保障。

如果我們的良心在這賭博氛圍中稍有不安的話，我們的政府還會保護我們遠離邪惡︰在我們的聘用合約中便註明，除農曆新年的頭三天外，公務員不得進入賭場。所以，我們有了三天純粹的娛樂。

這裡不就是藝術家的天堂嗎？無憂無慮、不艾不怨。為了讓我們從此永遠幸福快樂，政府還建了間美術館。

現在我們可以聚首一堂，集中精力做我們唯一需要做的事︰「欣賞我們自己的成就。」。

政府的苦心和努力顯然易見，我們亦十分欣賞。直到目前為止，這個美麗的童話故事近乎完美。只是，當中衍生了一個致命的問題︰欣賞作品即是創作的終結，它就是導致藝術家死亡的元兇。

事實上，政府的招攬政策剝奪了藝術家的身份，隨之將他們轉化為文化部門的行政人員，過程中對藝術家造成的沮喪無可避免。當政府將藝術家轉化、括入公共行政功能時，藝術家在社會中作為個體的存在便被削除了。明確的功能和位置分配對維持社會平衡極為重要。藝術家的角色便是置於中間，代表「對話」這個溝通功能；我們就如一面鏡子，反映社會；我們是搭通想像和現實的橋樑，我們是中間的聯繫和溝通。

然而，澳門的藝術環境是大眾未能瞭解藝術家的作品，評論或反應往往就是失望本身。有時候，觀眾或會欣賞你的作品，但他們未能產生同感，因為這些作品都不是為他們而創作的。藝術家們生活在一個舒適的環境中，我們簡直以為不再需要觀眾了。我們已被迷惑了。

同時間，政府以同樣的手法迷惑群眾。表面上像是在展示各式各樣的文化活動及成就，如展覽、藝術創作比賽等，但骨子裡郤不斷地鼓吹那無處不在的「貪圖安逸」的貧乏思想　──　澳門是我家，澳門多美好﹗這邊厢，為慶祝澳門被聯合國教科文組織列入世界遺產的慶典是多麼盛大熱烈，那邊厢，澳門的建築風貌郤越趨迪士尼化，還要是一個假的迪士尼﹗

政府投入的努力我們當然要肯定，不幸的是，這些作法來得膚淺表面，以至我們不得不問自己，是否被政策愚昧了。做為一個藝術家，我們必須走出這個「欣欣向榮」的幻覺，站起來打破假像。

如果我們要忠誠地發展文化藝術，我們必須面向大眾，面向社會現實。就讓我們走進賭場，看看我們年輕的一代如何在賭桌上工作、生活。如果藝術家希望大眾接受那個真實的我們，我們就必須做好「藝術家」這一社會角色。我們必須透過藝術才華，把這些社會問題展現在我們的創作中，我們的使命在於發聲，而不是保持箴默。

如果事實是我們無從改寫歷史，而我們與生俱來就不是當政策制定者的材料，那至少就讓我們坦然地討論它吧。

成為藝術家的唯一道路，就是創作。