Department of Cultural Affairs

Since the end of 2020, COVID-19 has cast a long shadow over society. Everyday group activities have petered out, home quarantine has become the new norm, and new regulations have limited the scope of our outward explorations. 

But the pandemic and its aftermath also brought about an unprecedented focus on the self and surrounding environment, and post-pandemic modes of living have provided opportunities for self-awareness and cultural rediscovery.
 
 This year, the Northern Taipei Street Blocks Art Project has invited seven groups of artists to investigate the area surrounding the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and discover the district’s unique creative opportunities. 

Loudly Lightning (大聲光電), headed by Yao Chung-Han (姚仲涵), is a piece created among forest greenery surrounded by residential and commercial buildings that features the quiet flow of light in the gaps between trees using semicircular lines. 

Initial Complex (原有機製) focuses on the nooks and alleys of the street blocks of northern Taipei, depicting circular ripples on small pools flickering faintly in deserted back alleys.
 
 Xinzhongshan Linear Park (心中山線形公園) provides an excellent space for strolling, and two artist groups have chosen to create works in the surrounding area. Artist Kou Tak-Leong (高德亮) from Macao has embedded light strips made from special materials into the outer wall of the base. The viewer must shift their body and change their perspective in order to perceive the work, thus providing fleeting experiences for passers-by on the move. 

Artist group HwH Project (雜波) have set up an interactive installation in a corner of the linear park where visitors can immerse themselves in a spectrum of melodies interwoven from light and the play of rhythm.
 
 Two groups will create visual art works on the large panel in the Dance of Light Plaza (光之舞廣場) at Shin Kong Mitsubishi Department Store. Chen Hsuan-Ming (陳宣名) and Huang Atz (黃瑞民) from 9 Grid Design will integrate slow, continuous moving particles to create a roving visual experience to contrast the flows of traffic and people with stillness. 

Artist Lu Kuang-Chih takes as a starting point a city full of LCD screens, where electronic signals from illumination sources in streets are imbued with meaning when people stop to look, transforming light into a focal point through contrast.
 
 In the post-pandemic era, hotels are taking on completely new meanings. Artist Chen Chiu-Hao (陳秋皓) has used the hotel as a starting point to create an interactive piece at Royal Inn Taipei Nanxi. The work uses information from guests at check-in to generate abstract characters, leaving marks of their presence in a site where full communication cannot take place.
 
 These seven installation works have been commissioned in the hope that members of the public in this bustling district will find creative inspiration and be encouraged by the artists’ efforts to shed light on the minutiae of everyday life, in turn uncovering their own depths of cultural vitality.

▍ Seeking Our Original Light

2022 Northern Taipei Street Blocks Art Project, Participating Artists |
 Outdoor Installations: Loudly Lightning, Kou Tak-Leong, HwH Project, Initial Complex, 

“Dance of Light Plaza” at Shin Kong Mitsubishi Department Store: 9 Grid Design—Chen Hsuan-Ming and Huang Atz, 盧廣志 (ZHI)

Royal Inn Taipei Nanxi: Chen Chiu-Hao

Dates | September 24 to November 13
 Location | MoCA Taipei, surrounding neighborhoods, and co-working spaces
 
 ▍ “When Our Memories Bear Fruit on Trees” 2022 Museum–School Collaboration Exhibition
 Entering its 14th year, the Museum–School Collaboration Project between MoCA Taipei and Jian Cheng Junior High School brought in artists to take part in Walking Grass Agriculture. Instructors Chen Yang-Te (陳仰德) and Chang Chiao-Ming (張巧明) led ninth-grade students to roam among old trees on campus, looking at fruit trees and exploring personal memory, interpreting experiences in graphic design, and learning to create colorful silkscreen printing art.
 
 Museum–Campus Collaboration Project | Walking Grass Agriculture

Participating Students | Ninth-grade students, Jian Cheng Junior High School
 Instructors | Chen Yang-Te, Chang Chiao-Ming

Exhibition Period | September 24 to November 13

Site of Art Works | MoCA Taipei, outdoor plaza at ground level