The 2024-2025 Dongxing Canal Light Art Festival, that most anticipated year-end event, officially starts on the 20th of this month. This poetic exhibition will last until February 16, 2025. The romantic, fantastic light art installations along the canal will remain there to help the public celebrate Christmas, New Year, Lunar New Year, and Lantern Festival. A promotional press conference today was held today (December 16), to which the public were invited to share the romantic light-up moment, and bring a limited-edition Light Art Festival light ball home.
Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke stated that the theme for the Light Art Festival this year is “Writing a Poem for the Scenery Along the Way”. Based on the principles of respecting local environments and avoiding excessive interference, artists from Taiwan and Japan have collaboratively integrated images of natural phenomena such as rain, wind, light, and more into colorful light & shade art installations. Their works manifest the spirit of sustainability that exists when we coexist harmoniously with nature. The Light Art Festival exhibition will start on December 20, 2024, and end on February 16, 2025. Fantastic performances and activities will be presented for three days following the lighting ceremony. You are welcome to go for a walk along the Dongxing Canal and take in the beautiful views, look around the market, enjoy the performances, and savor the delights of food.
Cultural Affairs Bureau Director General Chu Shu-Min stated that there will be three works – Rain Song, Petals of the Wind, and Dream of the Forest – on display by Kosei Komatsu, who is the most popular light artist in Japan. Additionally, there are also Spring Fireflies by artist Liao Chien-chung, an interactive light-shade art installation titled Flower Shadow Stroll by Peppercorns Interactive Media Art, and a time tunnel titled 1960’2 converted from a bridge culvert by the PRIOR object team. These dreamlike artistic works perfectly combine with the environments around the Dongxing Canal, so that visitors can Meet Art, and See Nature.
One of the exhibition’s features transforms free-verse poems into art installations. Local children were invited to write two-line poems that express their perception of the beautiful settings along the Dongxing Canal. The associations in the poems were then transformed into art installations through materials such as 3D text, fluorite, gobo lighting, mirror balls, neon, etc. to create a novel exhibition mode.
As explained by Art Director Jamie Tu, of Urban Art Studio (which curated this year’s exhibition), poetry and installations have always just been different facets of art. The art installations are superbly poetic, such that not only do poems and light installations interact, but illuminate each other. Also, the process of writing a poem helps children need to observe with their eyes and comprehend with their minds; this encourages their interest in art, and created opportunities for them to explore the places they live.
An official from the Cultural Affairs Bureau stated that in addition to free-verse poem creation, the exhibition also features paper-cutting works completed under the guidance of June June Wei, a sociologist and paper-cutting artist. Wei worked with 150 school children from Liujia and Hsing-Lung elementary schools, which are located near the Dongxing Canal. With Wei’s help, the children completed many paper-cuttings of Hsinchu County’s iconic five-colored barbet and camellia, the Papilio maraho butterfly endemic to Taiwan, and other wonderful plants and animals. These paper-cuttings are pasted on light globes and placed on lawns, creating unique views for each work.
On December 20, the activities kick off at 4:00 pm, and the lights will be lit at 6:10 pm. Exquisite limited-edition Dongxing Canal Light Art Festival light globes will be given away as free gifts at the event. Don’t miss out! Fantastic performance and activities will be presented for three days following the light-up opening ceremony. Popular music and drama groups who appeal to young audiences have been invited, including SoulFa, Papun Band, Cosmos People, Sweet John, Curry Fun, and Zixuan & Slow Train. All the performers will build on each other’s energy to create passionate performances.
In addition, there will be a Dongxing Canal Light Art Festival × Butterzoom Market, where visitors of all ages can freely view art installations, take in poetry, listen to music, participate in innovative interactive activities, and casually shop the market stalls, to enjoy the relaxing and artistic feast.