Department of Cultural Affairs

The theme of reality and unreality runs through Taipei Children’s Arts Festival (TCAF) in 2018.
 
A total of 23 performing groups from Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Vietnam, and Taiwan were invited by Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) to give more than 300 performances at this year’s festival running from June 30 until August 5.
 
Chung Yung-feng, Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, said that in recent years the primary target audience of the TCAF had been no longer limited to children. “We’re especially targeting adults with a child-like innocence in their inner side,” he added.


Photo from TCAF
The TPAC director Austin Wang says that this year’s festival has increased
many opportunities for interactions between artists and viewers.
 
Now in its 19th year, the TCAF centers on inspiring imagination. The highlight of this year’s programs lies in the application of contemporary technologies such as machinery and multimedia in art performances.
 
In some cases, Gulliver’s Dream, conceived by German stage set designer and robot artist Roland Olbeter, is a mechanical opera for 10 automated marionettes. He made use of automated machinery to control specially made marionettes.


Photo from TCAF
The DCA commissioner Chung Yung-feng, TCF chairman Li Yuan and TPAC director
Austin Wang take a group photo to announce that the ticketing of Taipei Children’s
Arts Festival has kick-started May 26.


Photo from TCAF
The Puppet Beings Theatre Company performs at May 23 press conference
of Taipei Children’s Arts Festival.
 
Another program Screen Man, designed by the El teatre de L’ home DIBUIXAT, Spain, combines digital and physical materials. By manipulating a number of puppets, props and virtual images, the performing group leads the audience into a magic world filled with the ambience of science fiction.
 
“This year’s festival was organized by the TPAC for the first time,” the TPAC director Austin Wang said. “We invited a large number of artists and performing groups from Taiwan and overseas. Some of them will interact with parents and kids on stage to open up unlimited possibilities.”
 
Theater groups from Italy and Taiwan are teaming up to perform Buchettino as part of this year’s festival. Since its inception in 2010, this international co-production has become a blockbuster show. This year it will run for the eighth consecutive year with a total of 26 shows.