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The 6th Macao Biennial Design Exhibition
The awarding ceremony and the opening of the Macao Biennial Design Exhibition organized by the Macao Designer Association was held on the 21st of January 2006. The Macao Biennial Design Exhibition is a prominent design event in Macao conducted every other year, with this year marking its 6th running. The purpose of the Exhibition is to bring together the best design works, and to further promote exchange in the design professions. Through open entry, a uniform system of evaluation, as well as inviting well-know designers to Macao as jurors, representative design works are selected among the entries in order to promote design arts in Macao.
This year’s entries were classified into graphic design, design in advertising, web design, product design, environmental design, illustrations and photography, and were also divided into Macao section and China section. China section included entries from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, while Macao section comprised ‘open entry’ and ‘student entry’, with 35 categories in total. Category with the most received entries in Macao section was the ‘Social/Cultural Posters’ with 80 works, while the corresponding one in China section was the ‘Theme/Self Promotion Posters’ with 83 works. The 6th Macao Biennial Design Exhibition had some six hundred entries, and around 280 of them were deemed to be of quality for the Exhibition.
Although each year there are different cross-region design competitions in other parts of Asia, their influence on Macao is relatively limited. Hence, it is necessary that Macao host its own cross-region design competition centered in this city so as to give the local citizens and the design profession the opportunity to better comprehend design arts. On the other hand, entries from China will let us understand design trends and qualities in the neighboring regions, furthering regional exchange, as well as enhancing the quality of design in Macao.
This year’s jury panel was composed of five following persons: Mr. Robert Peters from Canada, designer and former president of International Council of Graphic Design Associations; Ms. Sophia Shih from Taiwan, professor at the Department of Fine Arts in National Taiwan Normal University; Mr. Liu Gang, president of Zhuhai Designer Association; Mr. Michael Siu Kin Wai, professor at the School of Design in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Mr. Miu Pang Fei, prominent artist in Macao.
Entries were judged by their artistic creativity, their depth and techniques of expression, with 20% of the score of each assigned to the functionality, 30% to aesthetics and 50% to creativity, with jurors having the right not awarding any prize. Among the entries in all 35 categories in this year’s Exhibition, there were only six given Gold Awards from 3 categories, reflecting that the jurors were demanding professionals, making the Exhibition a recognized fair competition.
The Ultimate Gold Award of this year went to the publication tilted “Peregrinação” designed by Victor Marreiros. One of this year’s jurors -— former president of International Council of Graphic Design Associations, Mr. Robert Peters commented, “When we (the jurors) checked and approved the hundreds of submitted works, the pieces created by the Marreiros brothers were the most eye-catching and attractive. The stories narrated in this series of remarkable books drew inspiration from historical backgrounds and settings to provide the scenes for the rich, fantastic and exciting adventures. These marvelous, lifelike illustrations in the books are beautifully designed and printed, have a fantastic cover page and also fluently narrate the story. Add to this the quality of the images and visual settings and the books really stand out amongst the others by being both imaginative and alluring. Undoubtedly, the production is of a world-class standard and has drawn up a new criteria for fantasy and originality in the genre of historical fiction.”
The jury panel considered that the overall quality of this year’s Exhibition was the best ever. There were still quite a lot of excellent design works that had not been entered the competition. A design work gaining wide exposure prevents the designer’s blood and sweat from going in vain. The quality of a design work can also be recognized through submitting it into contests with professional evaluations. Open exhibitions of design works will let the public learn the influence of the design professions on the society at large, thus furthering the professional image of the design fields. The last but not least, the jurors certainly trust that designer friends will keep on the good work and bring them more surprises at the next Exhibition.
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