The Taiwan International Light Festival, which opened on Friday at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung, seeks to “illuminate the dark world shrouded by the [COVID-19] pandemic,” the Ministry of Culture said.
The exhibition, in its second year, is themed “Silver Lining” (黑暗之光) and showcases light installations by eight artists and collectives from Taiwan and abroad in the museum’s outdoor space, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
The participants from Taiwan include new media artist Tsai Yi-ting (蔡宜婷), the duo Hsieh Yu-cheng X Wang Chung-yuan (謝佑承 X 王中原), the multidisciplinary collective UxU Studio (有用主張) and the studio Peppercorns Interactive Media Art (黑川互動媒體藝術), the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Their works are featured alongside those of Groupe LAPS from France, Yasuhiro Chida from Japan, ENCOR from Switzerland and Kou Tak Leong (高德亮) from Macau, it said.
“Through their light artwork, the artists lead the public to reflect on the positive meaning contained in negativity and darkness, and hope to break through the barriers [created by] national borders and the pandemic to illuminate the dark world shrouded by the pandemic,” the ministry said.
The artists have created pieces including a light sculpture controlled by a computer program, a site-specific installation engaging with the museum’s surrounding environment and an interactive work of art incorporating 5G technology, it said.
“Over the past year, the world has been shrouded in the shadow of the pandemic, and finally, it has seen some light in recent days,” Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said at the opening, expressing the hope that the combination of light and art at the festival would “shine a beacon for us and lead us away from the shadow of the pandemic.”
Light art is one of the best ways to combine art and technology, he said, adding that the ministry has also been promoting the art form over the past few years.
At the beginning of this year, the museum had considered canceling the festival due to the COVID-19 situation, but in the end, the issues were solved, museum director Liang Yung-fei (梁永斐) said.
The dance group LUXY BOYZ gave a performance at the ceremony featuring lights, lasers and sound effects, the ministry said.
The festival is to run through March 28, and the installations are to be lit from 5pm to 10pm every night, it said.
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