Department of Cultural Affairs

By Dory Chung
 
The Taipei City Government, New Taipei City Government, and Keelung City Government cooperated in holding the 2019 Taipei Children’s Art Festival. Their objective was to give the citizens in Taiwan’s northern cities a memorable artistic experience this summer.
 
Tombs Creatius, an art group from Catalonia, Spain exhibited their interactive creation “Xics del Xurrac.” Francesc Palacin Remir said that the principle behind the Xics del Xurrac was cooperation. This creation of the Spanish group encourages children to cooperate as they play a game. It is thus a reflection of the objective of the three cities in organizing the festival.
 
The theme of this year’s Taipei Children’s Art Festival is “We’re Different, that’s Good.” Held at the Bopiliao Historic Street from the 4th of July through the 4th of August, the festival highlighted the great diversity among people. Its exhibits served to harness the creative imagination of children. The festival had one hundred and seventy six exhibits.


Photo by Taipei City Government

“It is good for us to be different from each other,” said Tsai Tsung-hsiung (蔡宗雄), director of Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs. “This festival’s theme “We’re Different, that’s Good!” expresses the diversity of cultures and the uniqueness of every person.”
 
“Taipei, New Taipei City, and Keelung may be different from each other, but we have contributed each of our distinctive abilities to hold this festival.”
 
“Xics del Xurrac Challenge,” the highlight of Taipei Children’s Art Festival draws inspiration from the incredible human towers, called Castells, a long-standing and popular tradition in Catalonia. “Xics del Xurrac,” born in a carpenter’s workshop, replicates a human tower called colla castellera. Tombs Creatius created wooden puzzles that call for cooperation with others to maintain the structure’s strong and harmonious balance.
 
Tombs Creatius, established in 1998, is a company of street artists who develop games meant to keep alive the child that we all have inside. They believe in art as a tool to harness restlessness, wake up minds and make hearts beat faster.
 

Photo by Taipei City Government
Cai Zongxiong (蔡宗雄) says that he hopes the Art Festival could be an occasion for the three cities to work together.

Yu Wen (于玟), the deputy director of New Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, says: “Our city’s Children’s Art Festival is usually held during the summer vacation. This year’s August 2 to 11 theme is ‘The Future Monster Island’ that relies heavily on technology to provide entertainment. I hope this co-marketing scheme with the other two cities transform the greater Taipei area into a creative children’s playground.”
 
The director of Keelung City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs Chen Jingping (陳靜萍) says: “Keelung’s beautiful sea views are a wonderful backdrop for our ‘Keelung Performing Arts’ activity from July 26 to August 24.”
 
This year, the Keelung City Government co-hosted the activity with the Paper Windmill theater group who uses their Taiwan Rural Mobile Art Truck to hold seven outdoor shows at several rural communities.
 
“We hope to provide everyone in those communities with a good art education,” said Chen.
 

Photo by Taipei City Government
The artist Francesc Palacin Remir (2^nd from right) says that the principle behind the Xics del Xurrac was cooperation.

At the Taipei Children’s Art Festival, Xics del Xurrac Challenge has 16 different games divided into four main groups. Each group expresses a different trait -- power, courage, balance, and wisdom. Francesc Palacin Remir says: “We won’t tell you how to play, because there is no single way to solve the puzzles. I hope every participant enjoys the adventure and uses his unique imagination to confront the challenge of every Xics del Xurrac.”


Photo by Taipei City Government
Chen Jingping (陳靜萍), Yu Wen (于玟), Cai Zongxiong (蔡宗雄) and some children play the Xics del Xurrac together.
 
Artist Toni Tomàs says: “We bring to the plazas, challenges for everyone – to share, feel, search, look, observe others play, and thus generate collective experiences.”
 
“We are glad to come to Taipei; it is a great city. Our challenges are games and experiences that trigger everyone’s genius and capacity to have a good time, to feel emotions, to generate memories, and to fill the street with happiness and a transforming spirit.”
 
Tombs Creatius’s work process:
 
1.     We sketch out original ideas.
First, we come up with an idea for a game, and then we draw it. We do tests on paper so as not to waste wood, a natural resource which should be used constructively and rationally.
 
2.   We create unique handcrafted mechanisms.
When we build a game, we bear in mind that the game’s mechanism must be easy to understand for absolutely everyone; that the game must be attractive and easily integrated within the other games, both in form and color; that it must be safe and weather resistant.
 
3.   We propose stimulating challenges.
When we build a game, we are also motivated by the idea that the participant can play the same game over and over again. The game should be a fun challenge which motivates the participant to play again.
 
4.     And we take them to the streets!
The game is ready to hit the streets! Now we just need to see if it lives up to our expectations for entertainment. If we see that the participants’ interaction with the game is not ideal, we re-work the game or its mechanism.
 

Photo by Taipei City Government
Xics del Xurrac is one of the interactive exhibits at the 2019 Taipei Children’s Art Festival.
 
In addition to the free exhibitions there were some other free activities in the Taipei Children’s Art Festival: “The Colorful World of the Amis” on the 13th of July, a concert by Amis tribe singers and the Golden Melody Awards winner, Shu Mi-en; “Holding Day and Night” on the 14th of July, a circus play by the Fangshi Circus group.
 
“The Future Monster Island” in New Taipei City started on the 2nd of August. This summer, there are arts events throughout the city. Over one hundred shows including music, dance, light shows, will happen in New Taipei City neighborhoods. There are also interactive areas and museums for adults and children to enjoy the arts this summer. Hopefully, people can enhance their dreams and free their unlimited imagination.
 
Keelung City would like to spread the love of art and encourage local people to take part in the community activities. In 2016, they started to host the activity “Art Gets In” and brought art to districts. This year they are collaborating with Paperwindmill in bringing the plays and shows to the countryside. Many famous groups join the performances, such as “Taiwan Tricks Team”, “Bean Theater”, “Apple Theater”, and “Formosa Circus Art”.
 
The three cities worked together to make this Art collaboration happen. It was the first time and hopefully not the last. We are looking forward to this great festival.