Macau, 16 May 2018

CEM partnered with Macau Artist Society and Macao Illustrators Association to revitalize low-voltage pillar boxes for the “Electricity x Culture and Creativity” activity last year, which was greatly supported and favored by Macau citizens. Thus, CEM continued with the activity this year and held the "Electricity x Culture and Creativity - Customer Substation Revitalization with Art" from the end of April until mid-May to further revitalize its power facilities. This time the target were the bigger-sized compact customer substations, which can compare to the size of a small shipping container.

Cecilia Nip, Senior Manager of CEM Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Communications Office, said: “It is a great pleasure for CEM to work again with Macau Artist Society and Macao Illustrators Association on the ‘Electricity x Culture and Creativity - Customer Substation Revitalization with Art’ program, under which 12 local artists and illustrators were appointed to repaint and create artistic works on CEM’s customer substations. CEM hopes this program will invigorate the community, and show the vibe of local culture and creativity. We also hope to provide a public platform for creativity through this program, bringing citizens as well as cultural and creative workers closer together, in a bid to help citizens learn more about their creation process as well as to support and promote the development of local cultural and creative industry.”  

In the program, CEM selected three customer substations in Rua da Barca, Yat Yuen Canidrome and Carmo Hall in Taipa. Each customer substation was revitalized by 4 artists or illustrators jointly, who integrated their works with the surroundings and created unique artworks to convey their stories to citizens.

Participated artists and illustrators included (in no particular order): Pat Lam, Jacky Lee, Lao I Wo, Sam Pak Fai, Ho Chi Kei, Chan Ka Ian, Yolanda Kog, Ken Ho, Christina Kong, Taylor Wu, Tramy Lui and Fong Wai Peng. For identification purpose, the invited artists and illustrators wore CEM uniform and working badge during their work from 9am to 10pm.

Cindy Lio, Executive Secretary of Macau Artist Society said that citizens are often only able to view local artists’ works by visiting exhibition galleries. This program brings citizens closer to local art while beautifying the environment, achieving a win-win result. She hoped that the program will be continued and extended to more public facilities. Tramy Lui, an illustrator from Macao Illustrators Association who participated in the revitalization of the customer substation at Canidrome hoped to turn the substation into an emotional reflection of the Canidrome for citizens, bringing touching and precious memories through her artwork.

Pillar boxes and customer substations come with certain risks as they are for voltage transformation and power transmission and distribution purpose. Thus, CEM strongly advises citizens not to touch or paint the pillar boxes and customer substations without permission. CEM has especially taken many safety measures for this activity and briefed the artists and illustrators about the precautions beforehand so that they could create their works safely and at ease. Meanwhile, CEM hopes all citizens will cherish and preserve the art pieces with appreciation. Citizens can scan the QR codes tagged on the customer substations, or directly visit CEM website at www.cem-macau.com to learn about details of the program and introduction of the artworks.