An exhibition of rare pop-up books will open in Taipei tomorrow with the aim of showing visitors that such books are also works of art, organizers said yesterday.
The exhibition will showcase 160 rare pop-up books ranging from the longest pop-up book in the world — an 8.2m long volume detailing the history of the Czech Republic — to a 4cm wide miniature version of Anne of Green Gables.
Other items that will be on display include books that open to a 1.4m long Titanic, a 1.5m tall space shuttle and a Taiwanese handpuppet theater.
Photo: CNA
The exhibition will also feature a set of books by the US fashion quarterly Visionaire, which has produced pop-ups by contemporary artists such as China’s Cai Guoqiang (蔡國強), who is known for his gunpowder drawings and explosive works.
“Our biggest goal is to send the message that pop-ups are not just ordinary books or children’s books, but interactive visual art,” said Michael Yang (楊清貴), curator of the event and a private collector who supplied the exhibits.
“Every pop-up book is assembled by hand, which means that each one is a unique piece of art,” Yang said.
The interactive nature of pop-up books also makes it easy for readers to absorb the knowledge and information contained therein, he added.
Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰), director of the National Museum of History, where the exhibition will be held, agreed that pop-ups are unique and more than just books.
The museum hopes to show how pop-up books have evolved over the past 700 years, from a resource that explained astronomy, anatomy and mechanics to spinoffs of popular movies such as Titanic, Star Wars and Harry Potter, he said.
Matthew Reinhart, a US pop-up book artist who has created many award-winning books such as Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, and Hong Kong pop-up artist Liu Sijie will also attend the exhibition to discuss the creative processes with visitors.
A total of 1,000 elementary-school children will be invited to attend the exhibition for free and workshops will be held to show teachers how to use pop-up books as a learning resource.
The exhibition will run until Sept. 16.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C