Nothing Serious Can Happen Here: Photographs from Macau

Macau’s transformation from a historical city to a phantasmagorical dreamscape, today the most lucrative site of casino gambling in global history

Over the last decade, Adam Lampton has photographed the former Portuguese colony of Macau (now a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China) and witnessed its transformation from a small enclave into an international gambling Mecca and leisure destination. As of 2007, Macau had surpassed Las Vegas in revenue to become the world’s most valuable gambling market. The colonial legacy, the communist experiment in capitalism, and the Chinese traditions continually collide and remake Macau through the filter of each other’s histories.This complexity is reflected in the large-format photos, which oscillate between past and present, expression and observation. In addition to exhibiting internationally, Lampton’s work has been featured in Art in America, The Boston Globe, and Camera Austria.

Adam Lampton is Associate Professor of Studio Art at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. In addition to exhibiting internationally, his photographic work has appeared in publications including Art in America, The Boston Globe, and Camera Austria. He is a recipient of a William J. Fulbright fellowship, a Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation fellowship, and a finalist for a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant. He lives in Maine.

Tim Simpson is associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Macau, where he has worked since 2001. He is the author of Betting on Macau (University of Minnesota Press, 2023). His recent research on architecture and urban political economy has appeared in journals in the fields of urban studies, critical theory, cultural geography, sociology, and tourism studies.