Taipa Village Cultural Association is delighted to present its first sci-fi works exhibition “MO2049” by Ricardo Lima, a Portuguese concept artist and Illustrator. Bringing an entirely fresh perspective to Macau – a city the artist had never visited – his collection will showcase a dazzling array of hyper-realistic visions of imaginative interpretations of its future.
As an experienced concept artist and illustrator in the entertainment industry, Lima has seized the opportunity to mount a rare concept art show in Taipa Village Art Space. Inspired by a wide range of sci-fi films, notably “Blade Runner” (1982), “Akira” (1988), “Total Recall” (1990), “Ghost in the Shell” (1995), “Fifth Element” (1997) and “Dredd” (2012), Lima has adopted the approach taken by dystopian cinema to present possible futures for Macau, depicting the relationship between a cosmopolitan metropolis and mother nature in the visual discourse of science fiction. He has focused his imagination on Macau’s future to create a powerful representation of new realities through his artworks, driven by his vision “constant desire to bring new worlds to life.”
Macau’s rapid evolution has prompted Lima to explore the city’s transformation into a fascinating destination á la New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong – all flourishing, busy cities that are globalised, hyper-dense, diverse, well-established and packed with cutting-edge urban infrastructure – as it takes place in the near future. In the exhibition, the Ruins of St. Paul’s are reduced to a huge, frivolous hologram and a backdrop for an open-air night market. The Grand Lisboa Casino is the setting for a downtown docking area where yachts and sampans meet to load and unload merchandise and commuters.
To give visual expression to the vibrancy and transformation of the city into something new, Lima’s digital illustrations overlay two images and are printed using a diffraction grating, a high-tech optical device that separates light into its constituent colours and produces a polychromatic spectra reminiscent of lighting effects in sci-fi films. It enhances the futuristic vision and animates the captured environment with palpable qualities of change and dynamism.
“It is our honour exclusively to present the first-ever concept artwork exhibition to art and culture enthusiasts in Macau,” says João Ó, President of the Executive Board at Taipa Village Cultural Association. “We are pleased to take this opportunity to invite artists and visitors to explore Macau from an extraordinary angle, bridging East and West as well as old and new, to reminisce from a fresh perspective over the territory’s initial emergence as a place bursting with vitality and intrigue.”
Taipa Village Cultural Association continues to bring together the endeavours of local and international art talents by exhibiting a multitude of artworks at Taipa Village Art Space. This concept art exhibition further cements Taipa Village as a leading cultural and artistic destination in Macau, making a significant contribution to promoting the territory’s cultural and creative industries.
