The creator of Hengchun Trend (恆春風巢), an art installation featured in the Taiwan Lantern Festival, on Wednesday announced the completion of a smaller version called Light of the East (東方明燈) to show support for the national baseball team’s bid to enter next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games and Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
The piece was completed just in time to celebrate the national team’s 7-0 victory against South Korea in the Premier12 Super Round in Japan on Tuesday, keeping hopes alive for an Olympic berth.
Yang Tsung-hsun (楊宗熏) said he began the smaller piece after receiving confirmation that Hengchun Trend — an art installation made of 2,800 empty beer bottles and tamarind tree wood — was to be featured at the Copenhagen Light Festival.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Light of the East is composed of 2,020 Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor bottles, he said.
Yang said he lit the piece just as Taiwan’s Chen Chun-hsiu (陳俊秀) scored a homer that brought in three runs, adding that he hoped the national team could secure a spot in the Olympics.
Yang said he also hoped that both pieces — one lit in southern Taiwan and the other in Denmark — would help “light up” Taiwan for the world to see.
He does not like to talk about politics, but he hopes that Hong Kongers will remain safe, Yang said, adding that he hoped they could sense the “warmth” of the support from Taiwan.
Light of the East is 202cm tall and emits a different colored glow every hour, a design that reflects the diversity of Taiwan, Yang said.
It will first be exhibited in Kenting’s (墾丁) Dawan area (大灣).
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