Where are we going?

By Elmo Hong

Coke Wong Ka Long, a local young artist as well as a senior art director who proudly devotes himself to art. His bachelor’s degree and master’s degree were conferred by the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts majoring in sculpture and education of basic art respectively. Wong is engaged in art creation, art education and consultation and art activities promotion.

Pat Lam Ka Hou, Wong’s partner in art making process who is studying at Macau Polytechnic Institute. Lam is a graffiti addict who turns a blind eye to the law while spraying his passionate graffiti.

Elmo: As I know, there is a performance art named Where are we going? which is mainly organized by you. How could you come up with this idea and where did you get this inspiration from?

Coke: In the year 2006, I happened to come across a wonderful impressive art exhibition named Where are we going? in Venice in Italy. I was fascinated by these four words and I decided to do something about it. After discussing with my students and partners, everyone showed great interests in this topic. Besides, all of us noticed how big the change Macau was undergoing. Due to the flourish of casino industry in the present economics climate, as Macau residents, we really don’t know what we should do, what Macau is going to be. Hence, this was the major purpose behind this activity. We chose performance art because we thought that it was the most effective way to draw residents’ attention.

Elmo: In the year 2006, it took place in Largo do Senado and last year was in Rotunda de Carlos da Maia. So, are you planning to parade all around Macau? And how you work this out?

Coke: No, we are just looking for places in Macau which are distorted, changed or occupied by non-local residents now.

Pat:  Yes, I totally agree with Coke. There are always a lot of non-local workers gathering in Rotunda de Carlos da Maia and we wanted to propose a resistance towards these non-local workers. We were all wearing yellow raincoats with corpse make-ups. The activity is about a group of performers parading on street asking Where are we going? and telling people to write down answers to this question.

Coke: Exactly, all of us had a wonderful aftertaste and were so addicted to such activity.

Elmo: Lastly, what are you going to do this year and what is your expectation towards the Where are we going? activity?

Coke: We are still planning and have not decided yet. As soon as the plan is there, we will secretly contact our performers and work things out suddenly. That is our style. One thing I can assure is that we are endlessly going to work this activity out in the future. Hoping there will be more and more people join us to find the answer to Where are we going?