Taipei Original Festival highlights artistic creativity

2015/12/07

The 2015 Taipei Original Festival kicked off Dec. 4 at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei City, showcasing participating artists’ plentiful creative energy and the metropolis’s vibrant culture and art scene.

Comprising 20 groups of artists and performers from home and abroad, the fourth edition of the eclectic event features an array of works in genres such as drama, documentary, illustration, installation, photography, and concert and dance performance.

Themed “Creator: Story,” this year’s festival comprises four exhibitions—“Dream,” “Mission,” “Persistence” and “Value”—to signify the four steps of the creative process.

“Through their works, participating artists share stories of their creative inspirations and struggles,” a park staffer said. “This is likely to arouse the creative instincts of showgoers, and they may discover their own artistic potential.”

One highlight is “Log In” by the Taichung City-based Petit Deer Cinema in the Dream exhibit. The piece features works from 12 emerging Taiwan illustrators, revealing their passions and how they formulate their artistic ideas. Their tales and illustrations have been made into computer animations for showgoers to interact with.

Another eye-catching work is “Pride of the Sea: Wading through These Waters” by Irish artist Daniel Christopher Moore in the Mission category.

Inspired by the songs “Wind,” “Amis” and “John Suming” by Amis singer and craftsman Suming, Moore created a rope installation representing ship rigging, which symbolizes the sea culture of Suming’s hometown Dulan Village on Taiwan’s east coast. The piece was also designed to encourage indigenous artists to pass down important elements of their cultures to the next generation.

Equally intriguing is the photography series “Portrait of Nature—Myriads of Gods” by Japan’s Nobuyuki Kobayashi in the Persistence area.

In the series, which the photographer began in 2001, the platinum and palladium printing technique is used in combination with Hosokawa-shi paper to generate unique and sustainable photos illustrating the tranquil beauty of nature. The paper was listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014.

“The Moment,” a performance by Naughty X in the Value exhibition is also worth watching. Consisting of animators, dancers, designers, engineers and employees in advertising companies, the team is to stage three sessions of a laser light dance with sound effects.

Running through Dec. 20, other activities to be held as part of the annual festival include lectures, markets and a creative passport event where visitors can collect stamps at special locations around the park.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=239765&ctNode=2194&mp=9)