The streets and night skies of Kaohsiung will be bathed in light as the city stages the 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival, with this year’s event drawing on both tradition and modern innovation to mesmerise visitors to the city.
The festival, which will run for 28 days from February 1, will for the first time provide a model for collaboration between artisans who use time-honoured methods to construct traditional lanterns and cutting-edge artists from around the world.
Spread throughout the National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts at Weiwuying and the city’s Love River Bay district, the festival will provide interactive experiences for visitors to learn about how traditional lantern art can be passed down to modern generations at the same time as harnessing advanced exhibition technology, such as high-speed, low-latency 5G for remote artistic displays.
Historic roots
First staged in 1990, the annual lantern festival is inspired by traditional folk celebrations on the fifteenth day of the first month, according to the lunar calendar, and to mark the end of the Lunar New Year. For centuries, the people of China have marked the arrival of the New Year by carrying paper lanterns through their darkened streets, with the designs becoming far more elaborate and adventurous in recent years.
This year, Kaohsiung will be aglow with works by artists keen to put forward their own interpretations of light.
One of the most eye-catching – and provocative – installations is titled Absorbed by Light and is a collaboration between British artist Gali May Lucas and Karoline Hinz, from Germany.
On display in front of the warehouse on Dayi Pier 2, the work is relatively simple in its design but stimulating in its theme.
The artists’ intent is to show that while mobile phones can provide many benefits in modern-day society, many of us have become overly absorbed in the virtual reality that is delivered through our screens to the point that we are neglecting the real world around us, including other people.
We are connected as never before, but disconnected to our immediate surroundings.
In the wind
A more whimsical piece is titled Wish Blow, with geometric, spherical designs reminiscent of the dandelion seed-heads that we blew as children, making a wish as they travelled on the wind.
The work of Monaco-based artists Helen Eastwood and Laurent Brun, 28 dazzling spheres will light up the Zhan Erku Plaza. Visitors are encouraged to make a wish as they admire the illuminated creations as having the courage to dream is the key to securing a better future, the designers believe.
Inspired by the steam punk movement, Australia’s Amigo & Amigo Light Interactive Design Studio is unveiling Octopoda in Kaohsiung. A giant, eight-legged creature inspired by both light and the ocean, Octopoda’s tentacles linked to drums forged from iron barrels which, when struck, allow light to flow from the tips of the limbs to the body.
The involvement of onlookers is crucial to the success of the installation, with visitors encouraged to hit the drums to make the creature’s limbs light up. As well as an exploration of the connection between
light and sound, the designers say they hope the installation will give people a new sense of energy after the trying experiences of recent years.
Tradition meets nature at Weiwuying
At the Weiwuying exhibition site, a work by artist and academic An Sheng-hui titled “Mata of Austronesia” captures the sense of fear that age-old traditions are being lost in our modern world. “Mata” is the word for eye used by the indigenous Rukai people of Taiwan, as well as in the other scattered communities across the South Pacific, with the work resembling an eye with a flame at the very centre.
Surrounded by a light-inspired design that is reminiscent of the petal of a lily of the valley, it communicates the changes that have been forced upon the Rukai people by modern society. The fire, however, serves as a reminder of the continuity of life, links to their ancestors and the unity that exists between people, as well as the commitment to keep traditional ways of life alive.
The Phytolight Flower installation has been conceived in part to act as a beacon of hope in these troubled times. Pod-like plants sprawl through the grass alongside the lake, iridescent and emitting rhythmic, shimmering light into the night sky. The designers said the aim is for the lights to guide and provide new hope to people – particularly front-line health workers and those at risk of the virus – and to nurture new dreams for the future.
Signature Lantern
The event’s signature work is a cross-border collaboration that brings together lantern designer Benson Lu and renowned calligrapher Dong Yangzi. Together, they have created a work that transforms the Chinese character “feng,” which means phoenix, into an illuminated pheasant that is native to Taiwan spreading its wings atop a mountain.
Lighting up Kaohsiung, the Flying Phoenix lantern will use the aesthetics of lighting to communicate the message of effective urban governance, and increase awareness of Kaohsiung City around the world.
The 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival
The artists and organisers of the festival hope visitors will be able to put the difficulties of the last year behind them, at least temporarily, and enjoy an occasion that will be a unique feast for the senses. (Reuters/KaoHsiung)