Italy’s Narcissus Quagalita, who is seen by many as the world’s greatest glass artist, has entered discussions with the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KHRTC) over intellectual property rights and royalties concerning his Dome of Light, which is displayed at the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Formosa Boulevard Station. The talks are focusing on the fact that any use of the artwork for commercial purposes could represent a copyright infringement.
At 30m in diameter and covering an area of about 660 ping (2,180m²), the Dome of Light is in the world’s largest domed underground station.
Quagalita made the piece in cooperation with Derix Glasstudios in Germany. The dome, which is made of 4,500 glass panels, symbolizes rebirth and Taiwan’s democratic process. The four parts that comprise it — water, earth, light and fire — symbolize birth, growth, glory and destruction respectively.
PHOTO: WANG JUNG-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Located close to where the Kaohsiung Incident occurred, the Formosa Boulevard Station sits at the intersection of the MRT’s red and orange lines.
With the orange line scheduled to begin operations later this month, the KHRTC has developed plans to design and sell souvenirs as well as sell tickets for in-depth tours of Quagalita’s work. Bridal companies have also been lining up to use it as a location for wedding photos.
As the KHRTC only has ownership rights and that any commercial use of the dome involves intellectual property rights, negotiations must be held with the original designer to avoid any copyright infringement.
KHRTC general manager Fan Chen-po (范陳柏) said that such proceedings were international practice and that it was only natural for the KHRTC to follow intellectual property rights and copyright legislation.
The company said its main concern remained ensuring that the work of art does not get damaged or destroyed by visitors.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS