In response to this year’s International Museum Day, 17 museums in Macao co-organize a large-scale museum event, the “2018 Macao International Museum Day Carnival” themed “The Mobile Museum – Taipa Houses x Taipa Story”. The event features a wide range of activities, including exhibitions, VR and AR experience studios, workshops, game booths, guided tours and a photography area which attracted residents into active participation. The inauguration ceremony of the “2018 Macao International Museum Day Carnival” was held on Sunday, 13 May, at 3pm, at the Taipa Houses. Excellent performances by the Music Group Macau, the Children’s Choir of the Macao Cultural Centre and the Macao Orchestra were also presented.
During the Carnival, the museum booths host a variety of activities, including the Exhibition of the Works of the Photography Contest of the International Museum Day of Macao, 2018 and the Exhibition on “Evolution of the Wetland in Avenida da Praia, Taipa”, Taipa VR and AR experience studios, DIY Workshop on Planting Aquatic Plants, Tung Sin Tong Playmais Workshop, Workshop of Firecracker Key Holders, Reminiscing in Taipa – Sketching, Making money boxes with decorative Taipa traditional cakes, Painting Taipa scenes in watercolour, Making Fridge Magnets of Taipa Pawnshop, Interactive YOYO Card, Intriguing talk about red wine and Macao as a Creative City of Gastronomy, among others; Ornithological observation session in the wetlands at the Taipa Houses and guided tours on the history and evolution of Taipa streets; a photography area with a fishing scene in the old days as background, as well as game booths featuring the themes of car racing, fire safety, seaplane model competition, among others.
In tandem with the theme of the International Museum Day “Hyperconnected museums: New approaches, new publics”, this edition of the Carnival, under the theme “The Mobile Museum－Taipa Houses x Taipa Story”, connects the surrounding cultural landscapes with the Portuguese-style Taipa Houses as the core community. A series of activities, such as thematic exhibitions, workshops, talks and guided tours, are held during the Carnival with the area’s natural environment and Taipa story as the background, seeking to integrate museums into the community and extending public spaces. In addition, the Carnival aims to achieve the organic integration between the museums’ collection, community resources and modern scientific technology through a variety of activities, thereby enhancing the interaction between the museums and the public as well as creating a more extensive space for the interaction to take place. The Carnival hopes to present the unique features of Taipa by taking residents and tourists to revisit old streets and antique shops as well as to share the history of the prosperity of the traditional handicraft industry of the past.
This year’s 2018 Macao International Museum Day Carnival is jointly organized by the Nature and Agrarian Museum, the Grand Prix Museum, the Tung Sing Tong Historical Archive Exhibition Hall, the Heritage Exhibition of a Traditional Pawnshop Business, the Fire Services Museum, the Maritime Museum, the Communications Museum, the Museum of Taipa and Coloane History, the Handover Gifts Museum of Macao, the Lin Zexu Memorial Museum of Macao, the Macao Science Center, the Macao Tea Culture House, the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial House in Macao, the Macao Museum, the Macao Museum of Art, the Wine Museum and the Taipa Houses. In May, each museum organize other celebrations, exhibitions, workshops, lectures and free admission days. For more information, please visit the Macao Museum’s webpage at www.museums.gov.mo, or follow the Cultural Affairs Bureau or the Macao Government Tourism Office’s WeChat accounts or call through tel. no. 8988 4000 during office hours.