Department of Cultural Affairs

 

 
As you walk along the street, beautiful music comes from a corner, perhaps the sound of jazz drumming. Or a nearby sculpture suddenly comes to life and you see it is not stone but a living statue. On the next corner, a clown makes balloon animals to entertain children and adults alike. Street art is all around us.
As the capital, Taipei City has allowed street performance in major scenic spots since 2005. March of this year saw a joint policy change with New Taipei City and Keelung City to swap the street performer license for a registration system in the hope of promoting street art. Meanwhile, the 2021 Taipei Street Art Carnival is being held to provide more opportunities for street artists to perform together at the same venue and exchange ideas. It also gives the general public more opportunities to enjoy exciting street performances.
Yo-yo player Yang Yuan-Ching was invited to curate this year’s Taipei Street Art Carnival. At the age of 14, Yang vowed to become a world champion, and every day since then he has practiced yo-yo, going on not only to win the Taiwan Yo-yo Contest but also to be listed in the Guinness World Records Hall of Fame. Yang has taken part in the Festival d’Avignon and the Edinburgh International Festival.
The design concept behind this year’s carnival is to “create a wonderful street experience” that will transform individual moments of art into a single “continuous” experience for visitors. A major consideration was to find the right venue—a pedestrian zone with good ambiance where people can walk freely without being bothered by vehicles and disturbances.
The carnival will take place in outdoor spaces including Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Royal Palm Boulevard and will consist of a performance stage and a “street art gallery” where handicrafts and visual arts will be on display. Over two days, the carnival will showcase 36 shows and 60 handicraft and visual art displays that will knock your socks off.
 
 
   
 
Many iconic street performance artists have been invited at the 2021 Carnival, including Papi Bucket, an experimental percussionist, and Lee Ke-Ying, a young, skillful drummer whose music wowed Golden Melody Award singer Jam Hsiao and won him a generous tip.
Screw is a master kendama artist who can bring a street of fascinated onlookers to a halt with just one kendama ball as he uses his unique skills to bring his performance to a dramatic climax.
Wu Haw-Juong is a top diabolo player, winner of the Gold Prize at the Formosa Diabolo Competition and men’s diabolo champion at the Tokyo International Diabolo Competition. Wu has performed on the Circus Platform at Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts.
Hula hoop performer Yang Shih-Hao won through to the finals of Asia’s Got Talent 2019 with an incredible performance. He was also invited to give a guest performance at the Daidogei World Cup and has represented Taiwan in the international arena, such as the Young Stage in Switzerland, Variete AmSeepark Freiburg in Germany, and Circuba in Cuba.
Annie & Taco, a cajon and guitar duo, charmed audiences with their melodic singing at the Taichung World Flora Exposition.
All these top street artists will be at the carnival, giving you their best performances. If you want to know more about the exciting programs or experience the wonders of street performance, come join us at the 2021 Taipei Street Art Carnival on October 23–24 at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.
 
▍2021 Taipei Street Art Carnival—Street Art in Flow
Dates: Saturday 23 October, 2 pm–8 pm & Sunday 24 October, 2 pm–6 pm
Venue: Outdoor spaces at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (No. 133, Guangfu South Road, Taipei City)