Department of Cultural Affairs

By Psyche Cho
Staff Reporter

Cracks zigzaging through building walls are now becoming home to colorful and vigorous Lego bricks in a city repair campaign officially kicked off by Taipei City's Department of Cultural Affairs and Fubon Art Foundation June 27 in Taipei. 

"Dispatchwork," a worldwide city mending project initiated in 2007 by German artist Jan Vormann, aims to fill up the cracks and breaches on old buildings in an interactive and vigorous way. 

"Dispatchwork does not defy deterioration. Rather, it aims to emphasize transitoriness as a chance for the construction and reconstruction of our environments," says Vormann in the official website of the global activity.

The simple yet engaging project with its explicit purpose has won wide responses from more than 60 cities in the world as of today, including New York, Tokyo, London, and the Great Wall in China.

Such a concept echoes the ideals of Taipei Cultural Affairs Commissioner Liu Wei-gong, who commented that "cultural construction is not only a task of the government, but more a joint work by civil forces."

Liu continued by saying that "the cultivation by a society of its own style requires embarking locally and therefore builds its own unique characteristics gradually." The introduction of Dispatchwork to Taipei is aimed at arousing locals' awareness of their attachment and care for their communities.

In an effort to engage more citizens in this creative program, the foundation has collaborated with a number of institutions to spare some space for the creation activity. Residents and citizens are encouraged to mend the city using Lego bricks in places including National Chengchi University as well as some shops in eastern Taipei.

Fubon Art Foundation will also launch a "Very Fun Park" exhibition, taking on the bustling eastern Taipei area from July 20 to September 9. Under the theme of "Power of Color," this year's edition features colors and identity from the perspectives of living, society and the environment.

For more information about the worldwide patchwork campaign, please visit http://www.dispatchwork.info/manifesto/. For more information about the Very Fun Park project, please call 02-2754-6655.