Cover ‘You Still Have Something of the Ghost About You’ (2025) by JinJin Xu, whose work is featured at Art Macao this year (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
‘You Still Have Something of the Ghost About You’ (2025) by JinJin Xu, whose work is featured at Art Macao this year (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
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Opening today, this year’s Art Macao presents a diverse array of exhibitions—from legendary figures such as China’s firework artist Cai Guo Qiang and the designer behind Hermès’ headquarters, to local artists reflecting on the city’s heritage and future.
Opening today, the 2025 edition of Macao International Art Biennale (Art Macao) unfurls across the city of Macau with nearly 30 exhibitions by both emerging and established voices in global contemporary art. Under the curatorship of Beijing-born art critic Feng Boyi, this year explores the poetic provocations of the question: “Hey, what brings you here?” The result is a multi-sensory journey into memory, identity, and cultural exchange, refracted through Macau’s layered past and digital present.
As well as artists and students from local art schools, universities and galleries who reflect on their city’s identity and heritage, this year’s line-up also includes exciting regional and international names: China’s foremost artist Cai Guo Qiang, celebrated for creating the pyrotechnics at the 2008 Beijing Olympic opening ceremony; French artist and designer Bruno Moinard, the creative force behind the headquarters of Balenciaga and Hermès; and a collection of works by Pablo Picasso from the Museo Casa Natal Picasso.
These are nine standout exhibitions not to miss this year.
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1. ‘The Haas Brothers: Clair de Lune’
Above ‘Reach-able Moment L’ (2022) by The Haas Brothers (Photo: courtesy of Art Macao and the artists)
‘Reach-able Moment L’ (2022) by The Haas Brothers (Photo: courtesy of Art Macao and the artists)
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When: July 19 to September 12, 2025
Where: Cotai Strip Entrance, City of Dreams
What: Los Angeles-based twins Nikolai and Simon Haas, known collectively as The Haas Brothers, bring their whimsical Clair de Lune series to Macau. Inspired by Moontowers—historical lighting structures from their childhood city of Austin, Texas—the sculptures blend design and nostalgia into playful yet poignant forms. With only six Moontowers left standing today, the exhibition evokes fading memories and luminous longing.
2. ‘Hello China, Hello Macao—The Odyssey of Jingdezhen Porcelain’
Above ‘Peace Dove’ (1952) (Photo: courtesy of Art Macao and Palace Reserve Club Gallery at Wynn Palace)
‘Peace Dove’ (1952) (Photo: courtesy of Art Macao and Palace Reserve Club Gallery at Wynn Palace)
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When: July 19 to October 19
Where: Illuminarium, Wynn Macau
What: To celebrate Jingdezhen’s bid for Unesco World Heritage status, Wynn Macau hosts a landmark immersive exhibition. Using 360-degree light projections, it transforms the venue into a digital landscape of Qing-dynasty kilns and contemporary ceramic artistry. As a key Maritime Silk Road node, Macau here becomes a crossroads of porcelain, politics and poetic history.
3. ‘In the Mind of Bruno Moinard’
Above The hand-drawn sketch of Capella at Galaxy Macau by Bruno Moinard (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
The hand-drawn sketch of Capella at Galaxy Macau by Bruno Moinard (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
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When: July 19 to December 31, 2025
Where: 1/F, Galaxy Promenade, Galaxy Macau
What: Bruno Moinard—the creative force behind the headquarters of Hermès and Balenciaga and the private residence of Karl Lagerfeld—takes centre stage in this rare exhibition of 300 artworks. His hand-drawn sketches, watercolours and architectural blueprints map an intimate cartography of creativity, offering a rare glimpse into the design mind behind Galaxy Macau’s own Capella hotel, slated to open later this year.
4. ‘Is It Your Gaze That Meets Mine, or Mine That Seeks Yours?’
Above ‘cAI™ Lab 2.0’ by Cai Guo Qiang (Images: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
‘cAI™ Lab 2.0’ by Cai Guo Qiang (Images: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
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When: July 20 to August 22
Where: Fantasy Box, L2, MGM Macau
What: At MGM’s new venue, Fantasy Box, acclaimed artist Cai Guo Qiang presents cAI™ Lab 2.0, an interactive digital fireworks experience powered by AI. Visitors can co-create digital pyrotechnics and take home personalised AI-generated love poems. As much a philosophical meditation as a technological marvel, the work blurs authorship between human and machine.
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5. ‘Picasso: Beauty and Drama’
Above ‘Figure with Striped Bodice’ (1949) by Pablo Picasso (Image: courtesy of Succession Picasso and Museo Casa Natal Picasso)
‘Figure with Striped Bodice’ (1949) by Pablo Picasso (Image: courtesy of Succession Picasso and Museo Casa Natal Picasso)
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When: July 20 to October 26, 2025
Where: Level 2-220, South Entrance, Grand Lisboa Palace Resort Macau
What: Featuring 143 pieces from Museo Casa Natal Picasso in Málaga, where Pablo Picasso spent his childhood, this exhibition delves into the Spanish master’s lifelong dialogue with form and feeling. Engravings, ceramics and illustrations trace Picasso’s shifting visual vocabulary, while celebrating the city that gave him his artistic roots and restless imagination.
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6. ‘Dopamine: Fountain of Happiness’
Above A poster of ‘Dopamine: Fountain of Happiness’ (Image: Instagram/@thevenetianmacao)
A poster of ‘Dopamine: Fountain of Happiness’ (Image: Instagram/@thevenetianmacao)
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When: July 29 to October 15
Where: The Venetian Macao
What: Under the baroque canopy of The Venetian Macao, this playful exhibition unites Sesame Street icons with classical Roman myths in unexpected harmony. Works by nine contemporary artists explore happiness through chaos, colour and cultural collisions—offering a jubilant visual jolt across media and mood.
7. ‘After Oriental Garden’
Above ‘O For Opium’ (2023) by Ho Tzu Nyen (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
‘O For Opium’ (2023) by Ho Tzu Nyen (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
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When: August 8 to October 5
Where: Casa Garden, Macau
What: After Oriental Garden excavates the city’s colonial past as a trading hub, revealing stories of botanical migration, diasporic identity and global trade. Sound installations, archival imagery and video works create a living garden of contested histories, offering a space for reflection on power, memory and the natural world.
8. ‘Immersive Digital Experience Exhibition of Macao World Heritage Art Creations’
Above ‘Historical District VR Tour’ (2024) by Po Hsun Wang and Team from FIAD CityU (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
‘Historical District VR Tour’ (2024) by Po Hsun Wang and Team from FIAD CityU (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
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When: August 18 to 29
Where: G Floor, KC Wong Building, City University of Macau
What: This tech-forward showcase harnesses immersive projection to bring Macau’s intangible heritage to life. From traditional festivals to folk rituals, each installation fosters a sensory and emotional connection to the past, encouraging visitors to see preservation not as nostalgia, but as vibrant participation.
9. ‘Borrowed Hands’
Above ‘Borrowed hands’ (2025) by Ann Hamilton (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
‘Borrowed hands’ (2025) by Ann Hamilton (Image: courtesy of Art Macao and the artist)
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When: September 25 to December 12
Where: Dom Pedro V Theatre, Macau
What: Commissioned for the biennale, American conceptual artist Ann Hamilton’s Borrowed Hands transforms China’s first Western-style theatre Dom Pedro V Theatre, built in 1860, into a symbol of cultural translation. Through multimedia, porcelain scans, and sculptures in dialogue with Chinese artist Zhang Xiao’s folk Buddhas, the installation reimagines the theatre as a merchant ship adrift between histories—interrogating trade, trust, and the fragile threads of understanding.
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
