Light-themed art events have become popular across Taiwan in the past few years, as local governments seek to attract tourists, but curator Tseng Yu-chuan (曾鈺涓) set out to tread a new path when she started working on the third edition of the Taiwan International Light Festival in Taichung.
“We’d been thinking about how to make a breakthrough in producing a light festival with a different curatorial approach,” Tseng said on Wednesday. “There are just too many light festivals out there.”
In addition to traditional festivals held around the Lantern Festival holiday, many events have taken up “light” as their theme. From the overnight Nuit Blanche and Treasure Hill Light Festival in Taipei, to the Light Coming Festival in Hsinchu City, most feature light installations and projection events, with the intention of dazzling visitors.
Photo: CNA
For the Taichung exhibition, themed “Play and Playing — Light and Shadow,” Tseng has invited local and overseas artists to build nine “performative installations,” which are to be displayed in the outdoor area of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts from tomorrow until Feb. 28 next year, daily from 5pm to 10pm.
“Light always comes with shadow, and when the two elements interact, they create movement,” Tseng said. “Visitors will be able to interact with the installations and dance to the movement of the lights, thus becoming part of the artworks.”
Visitors can walk freely around the installations, Tseng said, adding that especially Interval of Scenery by Taiwanese artist Chiang Iuan-hau (江元皓) would be interesting to explore this way.
Chiang’s work includes several pillars of different circumferences and heights, with the surface of the pillars covered with materials that refract light.
Chiang said he is seeking to introduce storytelling techniques to light art, giving his works a theatrical element.
“I treat light as a character in my work,” Chiang said. “I have focused on how to make this character interact with visitors so they become part of the work.”
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said he hopes that the exhibition would over the years become one of Taichung’s most important art events.
His ministry would continue to support the infrastructure needed for new arts and foster artists who work with different media, he added.
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