From flash mobs to a murder mystery tour, speed-dating to paper theatre, this year’s Macau City Fringe Festival taking place next month will be “an alternative urban cultural experience” for the public, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Mok Ian Ian said on Wednesday.
Mok made the remarks during a press conference held at the Xian Xinghai Memorial Museum about the festival, which is packed with 17 programmes and 13 outreach activities over just 10 days starting from January 10.
The festival is budgeted at 3.2 million patacas.
Themed “Boundless creation will show you around”, Mok said that the festival’s programme was different from others in that the stage could be “anywhere”, allowing performers to go right into the city’s various neighbourhoods to engage the public in a variety of shows.
“The event, therefore, will become the starting point where many people have their first encounter with performing arts,” Mok said, pointing out that such an arrangement would also be a platform for local artists or art groups to showcase their talents, opening up the opportunity to take part in events overseas.
Mok said this year’s programme would see artists “guide participants to explore residential buildings and cultural landmarks while traversing between the past and reality, thus presenting an alternative urban cultural experience” which would “breath new vitality into the city” at the start of 2020.
According to the Macau Post Daily, the shows include “Binaural Dinner Date” that is partly an interactive performance and partly speed dating that helps participants break the ice within an hour, “Macau Murder Tour” and art installation “Doppelgänger of Pluto” where the audience experiences a magical parallel world.
