Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Chung Yung-feng (鍾永豐) on Tuesday outlined the department’s key objectives for this year, including resuming construction work on the Taipei Performing Arts Center, programming the opening and closing ceremonies for this year’s Summer Universiade and deciding on the locations of a planned concert hall and an art museum.
Chung, who took office in October last year, said that one of the department’s major tasks would be to resume construction of the center, which was halted after contractor International Engineering and Construction Co unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy in November last year.
The company at the time said that it would be unable to complete the construction due to a high level of technical difficulty.
The city government is to publish online terms for bids by the end of next week as it seeks a new contractor to finish the construction, Chung said, adding that the department hopes to resume work in May.
Taipei is to require International Engineering and Construction to publicize building materials and techniques employed in the construction to allow a successor to better understand the work needed to complete the project, he said.
The facility is to remain true to its design concepts and not only host performing arts shows, but also become an international landmark regarded by architects as a “work of art” in its own right, Chung said.
The opening and closing ceremonies for the Summer Universiade, which Taipei is hosting in August, aim to promote the nation’s self-determination on the foundation of its cultures, he said.
Events are being designed by a group of young artists who did not have the same abundance of choices that people of his generation had, but who are creative and striving to present Taiwan’s cultures — including Hakka, Aboriginal and Minnan — from a global perspective, which will be different from a local point of view, Chung said.
Leading the design of the programs is a “renowned director” who has been reviewing concepts proposed by the young artists, the commissioner said, but declined to name the director due to a nondisclosure agreement.
“I can tell you that the ceremonies will not be a flop,” he added.
The department has been evaluating locations for a planned concert hall, including the sites on which the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is scheduled to relocate next year, and the Taipei Public Library sit, Chung said.
The concert hall is to differ from the National Theater and the National Concert Hall in that it would mainly be used for performances by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and the Taipei Chinese Orchestra to cultivate gifted young musicians, he said.
The AIT site is closer to several important senior-high schools and would benefit from its proximity to Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), which has a large music scene, Chung said.
The department is also considering building an “art complex” to house a new art museum on the site of the Expo Dome at the Taipei Expo Park, he added.
The results of evaluations are to be sent to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is to make the final decisions on the locations of both proposed facilities, Chung said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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