Treasure Hill lantern festival opens in Taipei

2015-04-02

The annual lantern festival of Treasure Hill Artist Village is being staged in Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, bringing together talents from home and abroad in a celebration of vibrant multidisciplinary creativity.

Wrapping up April 26, the near-monthlong Light to the Homecoming event is divided into nine sections and features 12 artists like local luminaries Luo Wen-jinn, Tai Han-hong and Tseng Wei-hao. It also comprises a seminar and sketch session.

“We have taken a new tack this year in combining mainstream displays and installations with dance, drama and music,” an official from event co-organizer Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs said. “This approach further highlights the heritage of the village and the essential role art plays in everyday life.”

One of the festival’s special shows is a joint performance by Taiwan musician Cheng Yi-ping and installation artist Luo Jr-shin. “Involving elements of dance, sculpture and techno music, the activity subtly underscores the merits of blending art genres to illustrate the legacy and development of Taipei and the village,” the official said.

Equally impressive is an environmental art project by Nishihara Nao from Japan. Utilizing daily items commonly found in Taiwan, the official said the installations emit a variety of noises every 30 seconds. “Visitors can listen to these soothing sounds and ease their minds while immersing themselves in the beauty of the moment.”

Now in its fourth year, the festival aims to promote Treasure Hill as a leading venue for contemporary art and Asian modernism. The village’s 14 studios, as well as several rehearsal and exhibition spaces, are open to artists from around the world.

Since its establishment in 2010, Treasure Hill has helped preserve the historic hillside neighborhood of illegally constructed shacks and shanties from the 1960s and 1970s. The visual jewel in Taipei’s cultural crown was described by The New York Times in 2006 as a must-see site for those visiting the city.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=228945&CtNode=413)