Allegory of Dreams

From the ‘Milk of Dreams’ to the ‘Allegory of Dreams’—what does one do when dreams burst overwhelmingly into reality, becoming... real? How does one deal with the angels which, representing these dreams, give body to a new world, but a world which can suddenly age because it is just a part of memory? The virtue of dreams’ intrusion into the real is losing our sense of time; it is ignoring the compartmentalisation of the existing past, the expectant present and an uncertain future. It is looking at what surrounds us as if everything were real, and not just a projection of what once existed. ‘YiiMa’ is the bridge between dream and reality. It is the privileged vantage point over a time without time. It is a movement which oscillates between two realities: between what exists and will cease to exist, and what dreams project, prolonging its existence. But also, paradoxically, between what dreams reveal about an existence that was once real, giving new life to the testament of a Macao rich in content. An allegory forces us to arrive at a synthesis of the discourse of the ‘other’. It means building a bridge between the story we tell and the meaning we wish to attribute to it. We are in the fantastic world of two intersecting realities. And the project revealed by the ‘YiiMa’ art group is a good example of this crossing the bridge. But by always doing it, we in the end cannot distinguish between dream and reality, the symbolic and the substantial. We lose ourselves in memories, but, on waking, we soon realise the dream is real and that nothing ‘YiiMa’ shows us can be relegated to the shelf of the fantastic, the delirious, the imagined. It exists not only to give meaning to the awareness that society should have of its own history, but also to foster the feeling of belonging that each of us can have in it. Macao is the point of departure. However, before the journey, ‘YiiMa’ visited the places that existed in the city, showing us a perspective which merges land and ‘sky’, combining in a single view that no other gaze can show us, at least not in the same way. Macao is a city full of stories. An avalanche of traditions, of an intense existence, exudes through the pores of the city. And the images chosen for this project show the richness and density of some hidden corners of Macao. The ntimacy of the unique places is never accessible. These images still show a past in which dreams transform into the present; being present, they live on in our memories, collectively and individually. On the other hand, Venice, along with its Biennale, is a point of arrival, the synthesis of syntheses. The ‘Milk of Dreams’ to which we are led by this unknown, mysterious, seductive and inviting reality of Macao, a city with a unique history and multiculturalism, where at every turn we detect the imprint of built heritage, and which emanates a cultural richness and set of customs and traditions characteristic of the intermingled Chinese culture it seeks to preserve. This project is the perfect demonstration that we can integrate the real into dreams, and with dreams, reality is made eternal. Furthermore, the combination of both shows the human condition in the context of a city that wishes to open up and reveal itself to the world. —João Miguel Barros, Curator ‘YiiMa’, meaning the twins, is an art group formed by Macao artists Ung Vai Meng and Chan Hin Io, which was officially registered and established in 2019. ‘YiiMa’ believes that everything in the context of reality is an open text, symbolising and metaphorising a certain attitude to life, a certain secret, a certain oath, a certain relationship; a trace of desire, a journey, a bunch of lies, a momentary thought... All that is needed is to make a series of on-site interpretations with physical behaviour, so that the absurd scenes revealed by conscience can be transformed into enduring documents. In 2019, ‘YiiMa’ held its first large-scale work exhibition (De)Construction of Memory at Museu Coleção Berardo, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal. In 2022, ‘YiiMa’ participates in the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia with the theme of ‘Allegory of Dreams’ by representing Macao, China, which is also the second important exhibition after the establishment of ‘YiiMa’ art group. Ung Vai Meng was born in Macao. In his early years, he received formal artistic training from Master Kam Cheong Ling. In 1986, he studied in Porto, Portugal on scholarship awarded by the Cultural Institute of Macao. In 1991, he studied at AR.CO in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2002, Ung Vai Meng completed his master’s degree at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and he obtained his PhD in Fine Arts from the China Academy of Art in 2010. In 1999, Ung Vai Meng was designated as the first Director of the Macao Museum of Art and later was promoted to the Head of Cultural Activities and Recreation Department of Civic Municipal Affairs Bureau in 2008. He was appointed as the President of Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao from 2010 to 2017. And now, Ung is the Distinguished Guest Professor and Doctoral Mentor of Macau University of Science and Technology, teaching contemporary art theory. Ung Vai Meng has dedicated to contemporary art and has participated in large scale projects in Macao, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Lisbon. He has won many prizes in local and international artistic contests since 1989. Ung Vai Meng is member of the Macao Fine Arts Association and the co-founder of the Círculo dos Amigos da Cultura de Macau. He has held a wide range of solo exhibitions in Macao, Hong Kong, mainland China and Europe. Chan Hio Io began to have a strong interest in photography since he was young. After moving to Macao in 1999, he actively carried out a record of the profound social changes in the small city. Chan was awarded in ‘The 2nd Top Ten Photographers in Guangdong Province’. He is a member of China Photographers Association, a member of Guangdong Photographers Association, and consultant of Photographic Society of Macao. He was also nominated as one of the National Senior Photographer of China. Chan Hio Io is currently the director of ‘Macau Image Gallery’ at the Macau University of Science and Technology. He has held many individual exhibitions in Macao, Zhongshan, Portugal and other places. He actively participates in contemporary art exhibitions and his works have been widely collected by collectors, foundations, Macao Museum of Art, Macao Archives, etc. João Miguel Barros was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1958 and moved to Macao as a lawyer in 1987. João Miguel Barros loves art. In recent years, as an independent curator, he has been actively participating in activities in the field of contemporary photography. For example, he has curated exhibitions in Portugal for many famous contemporary photographers in China including Lu Nan and Yang Yankang. In 2019, João Miguel Barros also successfully planned the first largescale exhibition of the Macao Contemporary Art Group ‘YiiMa’ at the Museu Coleção Berardo, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal, which was widely reported by the media. In 2021, João Miguel Barros participated in the establishment of the ‘Macao Halftone Photography Association’ and was elected as the first chairman. At the same time, he is planning to establish a contemporary photography centre called ‘Ocher Space’ in Lisbon, which includes art gallery, publishing house and bookstore. He hopes to intensify exchanges and exchanges with artists from Asia, especially Chinese photographers. João Miguel Barros has participated in a number of important group exhibitions. He held a contemporary photography exhibition titled ‘Oriental Narrative’ with the participation of 20 Macao artists in 2021. Organizing institution: The Macao Museum of Art

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Castello 2126/A, Campo della Tana

Venice, NY