The Centre Culturel de Taiwan a Paris drew thousands of visitors to its office while participating in Nuit Blanche Paris for the first time on Saturday as the French capital seeks to drum up enthusiasm for the Olympic Games.
It was the Taiwan center’s first time participating in the annual overnight art event, which has been organized by the Council of Paris since 1994, Centre Culturel de Taiwan a Paris Director Hu Ching-fang (胡晴舫) said.
“We have been serving Taiwanese overseas in this historical building, so we thought we should celebrate our 30th anniversary... We submitted our application for Nuit Blanche and within a month received the Council of Paris’ response inviting us to take part,” Hu said.
Photo: CNA
The office invited designer Liu Keng-ming (劉耕名), who won the Presidential Innovation Award in April, and his team Bito to take charge of planning, which began last year.
The show centered on the theme “Tsio” (醮), which generally refers to ceremonies held for deities to pray for people’s safety and ward off disasters, and is one of the most common activities held at domestic temples.
“We wanted to stage a digital temple fair in Paris. As we deconstructed the tradition, [we wanted] to let everyone come in and feel the tranquil energy inside and bring blessings to the world,” Liu said.
To achieve that goal, Liu and his team projected a five-minute video, showcasing a variety of traditional religious items — such as censers and moon blocks — onto the walls of the office and Bureau de Representation de Taipei en France.
Ceremonies such as the Matsu pilgrimage and the burning of the King Boat were also displayed.
“Taiwan is an island full of deities. The temples on the island outnumber the total of all four major convenience stores,” Liu said, describing praying and worshipping as “part of the daily life of Taiwanese people.”
The site was selected as one of the 10 recommended spots and drew nearly 10,000 visitors by 3am on Sunday, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement on Monday.
Among them was a French man called Alex, who visited Taiwan 20 years ago.
He said the show was contemporary without compromising the country’s unique elements, which made him feel “a tinge of nostalgia.”
Also at the site were Liu Chun-hui (劉君慧) and Chen Wei-ting (陳薇婷), who said they were surprised by the show’s punk and rock ’n’ roll music style when they expected to hear the sounds of gongs and drums due to the theme.
Speaking about the success of the event, Hu said the key is to “show them who you are.”
“We just have to be ourselves. Actually, the French public is very interested in Taiwan’s culture because the more they feel you are different from them, the more they want to know you,” Hu said.
Inaugurated in 2002, Nuit Blanche was part of this year’s Cultural Olympiad series of activities with the Paris Olympics starting next month.
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