I’m sitting at a typical cluttered round table commonly found at Taiwanese food joints with a menu in hand, but I don’t plan on ordering any food. I put on some headphones that are on the table, and the crackling and sizzling sounds from the kitchen of Tainan’s famous Yeh Family Barbecue (葉家燒烤) whets my appetite as a narrator describes the restaurant and its dishes.
The only grub I’ll be getting, though, is some malao (麻荖, fried maltose cookies) as a prize for answering questions about the six featured restaurants at this Tainan-featured exhibition, one of four region-focused shows at this year’s Creative Expo Taiwan (台灣文博會). This type of interactive and multi-sensory experience is the most enjoyable part of the extensive program, and while not all of them work perfectly, the curators should be commended for pushing the envelope.
But what really anchors all these elements is the human focus on the craftspeople, artists, chefs and conservationists instead of looking at culture as merely a product. Not all of the exhibitions are handled as well as the Tainan one, but they are all informative, well organized and worth peeking into if you are interested in Taiwan at all. Plus it’s free.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
While the Creative Expo’s main design and brand showcase is over, there is still plenty to see and do before the annual event closes tomorrow. The bulk of the action is taking place at Huashan 1914 Creative Park across seven exhibition halls. Stage on the Move focuses on performing arts while Places on the Move looks at the unique cultural and creative elements from Taoyuan, Tainan, Taitung and Pingtung, and includes a traditional goods market and craft tea exposition.
The accompanying events, talks and performances are time-specific, so watch the schedule if you want to don a white coat at the Tea Future Lab or enjoy a show by Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe (一心戲劇團). Also, the make-your-own books in the craft tea exhibition are usually snatched the instant they’re replenished at 10am and 3pm, so act quickly.
With individual curators, each exhibit greatly differs in theme and format. Tainan’s “Simmering Fire” by local travel and culture expert Yu Chih-wei (游智維) is clearly the best put together, using the theme of fire to interpret and connect chefs, musicians, craftspeople and other passionate professionals from the city. By comparison, the Taoyuan Expo Park is presented as a design firm, highlighting the creative developments in local factories, public spaces and sports activities with a focus on kendo. It’s organized and innovative, focusing in particular on audio, but the human aspect is not as strong. And while the Pingtung Expo Park has the human element, featuring videos of performers as well as their personal items and musings, the hands-on part is mostly missing.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
All exhibitions have some sort of interactive component. At Stage on the Move, visitors can lie on the ground and mimic the dance moves of professional performers, while one can press buttons and make beats out of factory noises, kendo shouts and audio recorded at Taoyuan’s various public spaces. And almost all have something visitors can hear, smell or feel.
However, getting too creative with the displays can backfire. The Taitung Expo Park has a fresh concept by displaying 12 everyday objects on loan from 12 professionals, from gloves to ground coffee to a whole dried squid — and kudos for diversity as it includes not just Han Chinese and Aborigines but also an Indonesian shop owner. Visitors can smell the ocean from some of the objects while a soundtrack plays with waves and guitars scored by Amis singer Suming.
But the objects are laid side by side on a 12-by-12 grid, making it a bit cluttered to view them as belonging to distinct people. Each object has a number that corresponds to the descriptions on the wall, but most people will likely soon get tired of walking back and forth to match every object to the description, making it difficult to fully take in the information.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
The attention to detail in this hall is impressive, however, as the soundtracks are synchronized rhythmically and tonally to seamlessly blend into each other when one walks from the ocean section to the land section, and the faint smell of the ocean subtly transitions into the sweet aroma of an Amis thatched hut.
Compared to the Taitung display, the one for Tainan handles its personal objects in a more conventional way by simply grouping them with their owners. It’s much easier to navigate without losing points for creativity. For example, several displays feature a vertically curved metal strip arranged from top to bottom with tools, a winding trail of raw materials such as crumpled newspapers for papier mache, a sample work and the craftsperson’s photo and bio.
Some general issues for this part of the fair include the text being hard to read at some displays when printed in white on mirrors or transparent material. While there are excellent English translations of the main text, a lot of the smaller text and brand information is Chinese only — such as the product information at the craft tea expo, which is unfortunate because these talented designers deserve more international exposure.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
It’s understandably hard to translate every little thing, and some activities just don’t work in English, such as the aforementioned Tainan food quiz. But there’s no reason to not include subtitles for the performer interviews at Stage on the Move, and it’s puzzling why the Q&A profiles of featured organizations at the Taoyuan Expo Park only have the questions translated and not the answers. Why translate at all, in that case?
If you have time after Huashan, mosey over to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park where a section of the usually barricaded Taipei Railway Workshop north of the Eslite building has been opened up and turned into a mini-preview of the National Railway Museum, set to open in 2026. The Workshop was designated as a national historic monument in 2015.
Like the other shows, it’s a feast for the senses as visitors walk on old wooden rail ties strongly smelling of asphalt while a rendition of the traditional railway song Diu Diu Deng (丟丟銅仔) by Yilan band A Root (同根生) plays in the background. The band will be playing a series of train-related Taiwanese songs at the exhibit tomorrow, adding yet another element to this multi-layered experience.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
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