Department of Cultural Affairs

After a one-year hiatus owing to the pandemic, the Taipei Art Fringe Festival is returning with the same energy as 2020! Taipei Art Fringe Festival returns to the limelight this year with the theme of “No Cut, Plz”. It will be a gathering of 112 teams, 30 venues and 486 shows, covering all of Taipei City with artistic vitality from August 20 to September 4.
 
Origins of the Fringe Festival: Saying Yes to All Possibilities
When they hear the term “fringe festival”, most people wonder what makes it different from a regular art festival. The concept originated in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Art Festival was an orthodox art festival, but many creators believed that art is not limited to what is recognized by the mainstream or established institutions but is rather found in the friction and interaction between artists, opening up more possibilities and developing empathy for one another in the process. Thus, a group of creators passionate about art started own “fringe festival” to enable art from the margins to be showcased in various unexpected venues.
 
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has ignited the spirit of autonomy in creators around the world, and for the last 70 years Taiwan has never been absent. The Taipei Fringe Festival has been running for 15 years and is committed to being an incubator for young artists.
 
Taipei Fringe Festival: Saying Yes to “No Cut, Plz”
The theme of this year’s Taipei Fringe Festival is “No Cut, Plz”, referring to the vitality of creative energy and the refusal to self-limit, with creators able to fully express themselves and even bring about cross-disciplinary collaboration. “No Cut, Plz” showcases the flexibility of Taiwanese sensibilities, much like the taste of bubble tea (with less sugar and ice) or chicken cutlets (extra spicy, uncut), a standard night market combination and a sensory adventure. This year’s Taipei Fringe Festival will present the latest flavors in performing arts with 486 performances, giving the public a wide range of experiences to savour.
 
Mirroring the theme of “No Cut, Plz”, the opening ceremony on August 13 will incorporate a Taiwanese food culture theme, with an Art “Catering Table” where visitors can “place an order” on the public square outside Taipei Performing Arts Center. Select performers that pique your fancy and that you want to see on stage, sit back and indulge in an artistic feast created just for you. Had enough of the feast? Craving something simpler? Artists from Art Tents will beckon you over to enjoy performances that will capture your heart. And if—while you scroll through your phone waiting for the bus—someone next to you starts suddenly breaks into performance… Congratulations: you are standing at an Art Stop! In daily life, art is everywhere we go.
 
Beginning of New Landmarks: Saying Yes to Spatial Possibilities
This year’s Festival coincides with the opening of the Taipei Performing Arts Center. Taipei Fringe Festival will also try to offer greater possibilities in terms of performance space. Aside from co-working spaces and cafés, there will also be many interesting spaces for first-time collaborations, including the rooftop football field at Shilin Sports Center, the heartwarming fish pond and Kitchen of the Future at National Taiwan Science Education Center, and of course the rehearsal room in Taipei Performing Arts Center. Come see how artists throw away the rulebook on art spaces to create passionate, novel performance experiences using football goals, wash basins and sensory projections.
 
Scattered throughout Beitou, Shilin, Datong, Zhongshan, Wanhua, Zhongzheng and Wenshan, the unexpected performance venues of the Fringe Festival await you. Explore the city while enjoying the art performances. However hot summer gets, we won’t stop. We’ll show up at the Fringe Festival no matter what!
 
Return of the Fringe Festival: Saying Yes to Life and Performing
There’s a rule of thumb in improvisation called “Yes, and…”, where each participant has to accept what others suggest and then build on it. The Taipei Fringe Festival is a chance for artists, the audience and Taipei residents to practice saying yes to all kinds of possibilities in life and performing, to branch out and generate their own vitality. This summer, let’s all say yes to “No Cut, Plz” of the Taipei Fringe Festival!
 
Event period: August 20 to September 4