🚩 New Media Artist Hsin-Chien Huang Leads "Garden Taipei/Formosa: Taiwan Grand Tour" with 22 Taiwan's VR and New Media Artworks to 2021 Ars Electronica Linz in Austria🇦🇹
2021 ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL Ars Electronica has chosen “A New Digital Deal” as its annual theme, centering around the social and cultural transformations under the influence of technology from different countries. Also, it pays attention to changes of “the New Normal” due to the pandemic.
Hsin-Chien Huang, this year’s curator of the “Garden Taipei/Formosa”, resonates the theme with the “Taiwan Grand Tour”, hoping to waken our desire and ability to move freely during the journey via different kinds of media, also make more people see the marvelous results and how hard Taiwan has devoted to technology, culture, tradition, and tradition via international digital platforms. The tour will have become a window between the world and Taiwan.
The scale of this year’s exhibitions has been brought up a notch. Not only did it carry on displaying the VR and AR productions from last year, but the curator Hsin-Chien Huang has collaborated with three other, Hsiao-Yue Tsao, Billy Chang, and Chung-Hsien Chen, to call out many VR directors, new media artists, start-up companies and government institutions to join the project. There are 22 magnificent programs in total, which will be shown in categories such as “Immersive Tour”, “Animated Tour”, “New Media Tour”, “Earth Tour” and “Action Tour” respectively.
“Immersive Tour”, as the first part of the “Taiwan Grand Tour”, viewers can wander among the mountains, oceans, and rivers in the digital world, even outer space! Six scenes inspired by unique Taiwanese landscapes with cultural and biological features will be shared with the audiences, such as “The Starry Sand Beach” (Directed by Hsin-Chien Huang and Nina Barbier), “Moondream Reality-Rebirth”(Directed by Chi-Yen Chiang, Ami Wu), the shuttle VR 360 stereo video of “TAIPOWER D/S ONE.” (Directed by Ghung-I Hung and Shih-Chou Wen), “Floating Childhoods” (Directed by Hakka Public Communication Foundation and Wen-Chieh Chang), “Blue Tears EP1” (Directed by Hsiao-Yue Tsao), and “Samsara” (Directed by Hsin-Chien Huang).
In the “Animated Tour”, viewers can devote themselves to the characters via different programs. Whether it is the abstract or figurative visual style, audiences can experience anxiety and frustration all the way to happiness and growth. Getting rid of this disappointing reality, viewers shall continue the “Taiwan Grand Tour” through their imagination. This program consists of four animations: "Go Go Giwas: Sowing Dream Seeds"(Directed by Vick Wang, Yi-Feng Kao), "My grandmother is an Egg"(Directed by Wu-Ching Chang),"Inside"(Directed by Yu-Ting Hsueh), and "The Wayward Kite"(Directed by Yu-Ting Hsueh).
In the “New Media Tour” program, nine brilliant pieces created by Taiwanese artists will be shared as the relay points for the “Taiwan Grand Tour.” They use video, sound, electronic music, installation, and various new media to explore different topics, such as family, memory, city, society, landscape, and environment. We firmly believe that digital tools can also capture the warmth and emotions in reality. This program consists of nine artworks: "Surrounding Spectrum"(Directed by Hsiu-Ming Wu), "Nanyang Express II : Eternal Wandering and Tropical Pursuing"(Directed by Yi-Chi Lin), "Wave Waves"(Directed by Sio-Pang Hong), "That ・ This"(Directed by Ching-Chuan Hu), "Signal"(Directed by Chin-Hsiang Hu), "Tower of Babel by the sea"(Directed by Wei-Chung Feng), "How to explain love to an iPhone"(Directed by Jie-Huai Yang), "U+617E_v2.∞"(Directed by Jia-Hua Zhan), and "Absence in Presence"(Directed by Ning Tsai).
In the program “Earth Tour”, viewers will participate in a performance art called “Taste Soil”, which intends to rethink the relationship between humans and land by means of “eating.” The program brings together international eminent chefs Andre Chiang, dancer Billy Chang, new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang and Wen-Chieh Chang, fusing Taiwan’s unique traditions and customs with cuisines and dance performances via VR experience. A feast to the eyes and tastebuds awaits.
Looking back at the present time, humans need to take more efficient scientific actions in the digital world to reduce the consumption and pressure of resources and the environment and cope with the impact in the post-pandemic times. Two important technology units in Taiwan make their debut in the “Action Tour”: Miniwiz Co., Ltd. and the Taipei Urban Intelligence Center. The former is devoted to the sustainable development of materials science with digital technology and design, while the latter is the integration of big data and streaming technology to create a new technical model of urban governance. Combing these two, an answer to developing a sustainable society with digital energy is born. During the tour, a new performance art project is inspired by the digital cross-field cooperation for the first time. The Taipei Urban Intelligence Center will join hands with new media artist Chin-Hsiang Hu and the founder of Inwheel Ghung-I Hung, to create a new media artwork “The Weight of Data” by integrating both virtual and physical materials from different domains and sharing data resources.
The brilliant curatorial concept and lineup of the Taiwan Grand Tour have attracted the interest of the officials of the festival and been in the limelight. Therefore, the festival has invited three creators behind the “Earth Tour”: Andre Chiang, Billy Chang, and Hsin-Chien Huang, to an online interview called “Highlight Channel” at 18:00 on September 1 (Taiwan Time). The link will be provided by the official later on. Moreover, Miniwiz Co., Ltd. and the Taipei Urban Intelligence Center are also invited to share their ideas and experiences in an online show called “Home Delivery.”
The theme of the Garden Taipei/ Formosa is presented in a diverse form of performances by combining different fields multiply. The audience can easily follow the step of the “Taiwan Grand Tour” to explore Taiwan’s magnificent local digital creativity and illustrate a new digital landscape unitedly that only belongs to Taiwan. The 2021 Ars Electronica online exhibition will be held from September 8 to 12, 2021. Click the link below to take a sneak peek of this year’s shows.
📍ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 🔗 https://ars.electronica.art/newdigitaldeal/de/formosa-grand-tour/
📍ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL “Home Delivery” 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/c/arselectronica/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=5
📍 Garden Taipei/Formosa: Taiwan Grand Tour 🔗 http://garden2021.metarealitylab.com/
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