Department of Cultural Affairs

A boy plays with a plant installation created by plant environmental researcher Lin Wei-hsiang and the Atelier Hui-Kan artists. Photo from TFAM

By Yali Chen
 
The year 2020 marked an environmental awakening within the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM).
 
Since the TFAM Children’s Art Education Center opened in 2014, it has launched 11 art education programs. The latest is the Satellite 11: Planet BioTa (第 11 號衛星─牠它星球) exhibition, which has already kicked off and will run until April 11, 2021.
 
The center invited Taiwanese artists Wu Sih-chin (吳思嶔) and Lin Wei-hsiang (林暐翔) and art groups Atelier Hui-Kan (回看工作室) from New Taipei City and raumlaborberlin (柏林空間實驗室) from Germany to showcase their artworks and share their new ideas and visions for a balanced planet.


Hot Pot Harvest by raumlaborberlin from Germany. Photo from TFAM


A girl collects ingredients for her hot pot. Photo from TFAM

Their ideas range from food on the table to the natural homes of animals and plants, creating a space filled with possibilities for sensory exploration and creative experience. The artists invite visitors to experience Planet BioTa through interactive games.
 
Set up in 2009, raumlaborberlin is a group of nine Berlin-based architects, landscape architects, and artists who work at the intersections between architecture, city planning, and art using performative, temporary interventions. Renowned for their experimental buildings combining local materials, in 2018 the group received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture for their work in environmentally sustainable architecture.
 
Hot Pot Harvest (島嶼出鍋務), their exhibit at the Taipei exhibition, addresses the urgent need to live sustainably within the Earth’s finite resources.


Three visitors viewing A Talk Between Clouded Leopard and Thylacine by
Taiwanese artist Wu Sih-chin. Photo from TFAM


A boy and his mother play in a learning corner of Call the Black Bear and Otter,
created by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and artist Wu Sih-chin. Photo from TFAM

raumlaborberlin simulated five scenarios for visitors to play with. With a bamboo hat and vegetable basket, they collect all the necessary ingredients for a winter hot pot, learning about food stories and the relationship between humans and nature.
 
Plant environmental researcher Lin Wei-hsiang worked with Atelier Hui-Kan artists to create a tree clinic. Visitors are invited to become an apprentice tree surgeon: they inspect the trees, identify their features, and use a health assessment form to conduct a preliminary checkup. This process teaches them that plants are one of the most important lifeforms in the environment and helps them understand the relationship between biodiversity and symbiosis.