Rock the Dream is the theme for this year's biennial Hualien's International Stone Sculpture Festival (花蓮國際石雕藝術季), but activities are not limited to stone and include rock music (get it?), stone carving, prehistoric fossils, crafts and Ami cuisine.
The grand opening, which was postponed because of Typhoon Krosa, took place last Saturday and included ballet performances, Aboriginal folk dances, speeches by local politicos, introductions of the local and foreign stone sculptors and a spectacular fireworks display.
A free shuttle bus runs between the festival's different events. On Seashore Boulevard, 12 stone artists from around the world can be seen in action as they carve marble into minimalist works. The creations will become part of Hualien's urban landscape as public street art.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SUSAN KENDZULAK
Nearby, Hualien County Stone Sculpture Museum charts the importance of stone from prehistoric times to the present day. The Evolution of Eolith exhibition exhibits stone tools and axes made by the prehistoric peoples who lived along Taiwan's East Coast over 7,000 years ago. The International Sculpture Masterpiece exhibition features small-scale modern pieces from artists such as Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama along with sculptures by local artists.
Additionally, rose stone, local jade, designs for public stone furniture and stone teapots from the Ming and Chin Dynasties are on view. Taken together, the exhibits provide visitors with a broad perspective of the unique history of stone and its many uses.
In the open-air plaza, stalls for DIY handicrafts from 27 local communities allow you to try your hand at jewelry making, weaving and painting. The Culture Affairs Bureau has organized family activities geared for those with small children plus weekend cultural and tourism tours to see the various local sites. The event also has free nightly performances by groups such as the Orange Fire Dance Group, Centro Flamenco Taiwan, A Capella Vocal Band from Germany and the Contemporary Legend Theater.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SUSAN KENDZULAK
Besides being educational, there's a chance to win some money. Enter the iStone Photography Competition fro a chance to win the NT$15,000 grand prize. Submit your festival theme photo to the Cultural Bureau Gallery of Hualien County, 6 Wunfu Rd, Hualien City (花蓮市文復路6號) before Nov. 5 to claim your shot at the prize.
May 11 to May 18 The original Taichung Railway Station was long thought to have been completely razed. Opening on May 15, 1905, the one-story wooden structure soon outgrew its purpose and was replaced in 1917 by a grandiose, Western-style station. During construction on the third-generation station in 2017, workers discovered the service pit for the original station’s locomotive depot. A year later, a small wooden building on site was determined by historians to be the first stationmaster’s office, built around 1908. With these findings, the Taichung Railway Station Cultural Park now boasts that it has
The latest Formosa poll released at the end of last month shows confidence in President William Lai (賴清德) plunged 8.1 percent, while satisfaction with the Lai administration fared worse with a drop of 8.5 percent. Those lacking confidence in Lai jumped by 6 percent and dissatisfaction in his administration spiked up 6.7 percent. Confidence in Lai is still strong at 48.6 percent, compared to 43 percent lacking confidence — but this is his worst result overall since he took office. For the first time, dissatisfaction with his administration surpassed satisfaction, 47.3 to 47.1 percent. Though statistically a tie, for most
As Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) — the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda — he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration. Trump had ordered the US Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that funds VOA and other groups promoting independent journalism overseas, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The decision suddenly halted programming in 49 languages to more than 425 million people. In Moscow, Margarita Simonyan, the hardline editor-in-chief of the
Six weeks before I embarked on a research mission in Kyoto, I was sitting alone at a bar counter in Melbourne. Next to me, a woman was bragging loudly to a friend: She, too, was heading to Kyoto, I quickly discerned. Except her trip was in four months. And she’d just pulled an all-nighter booking restaurant reservations. As I snooped on the conversation, I broke out in a sweat, panicking because I’d yet to secure a single table. Then I remembered: Eating well in Japan is absolutely not something to lose sleep over. It’s true that the best-known institutions book up faster
RSS