Titled “Sound and Art in Chiayi” this year, NCYU Arts Festival 2023, in its 12th edition, spans three months and features a total of 20 events. The festival includes five art exhibitions, seven music feasts, four art lectures, two puppet shows, a cultural and creative fair, and pop-up bands. With a focus on “cross-domain” co-creation, it transcends traditional and modern boundaries, East and West, local and international borders, age differences, fostering a sense of community with shared passion. By holding “Sound and Art in Chiayi,” it aims to connect communities through the power of art, and nourish and inspire their minds and souls.
The opening ceremony of “Sound and Art in Chiayi” took place on Oct. 28th on the Minghsiung campus. The ceremony began with a lively hand-puppet musical show, titled “May Gods Bestow Blessings on NCYU,” delivered by SamadhiTang Creative Puppet Troupe led by Xiao Jin and Duo Duo. The “human and puppet in one” show, which unveiled the NCYU Arts Festival 2023, was performed without a stage, accompanied by music scores including “Winter Snow” and “Beauty.” Originally composed by Kris Tsai from Echo Music, the music was performed together with the Lantan Chinese Orchestra, founded in 1965 at NCYU.
The NCYU Arts Festival this year boasts an opening art exhibition, titled “Twenty-eighth Years: New Antennae Group Exhibition,” which is delivered by the first contemporary art group in Chiayi: “New Antennae Art Group.” Curated by President Lai Wanzhen, former Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City Government, the exhibition brings together 24 renowned artists at home and abroad. Among them are Wang Wen Chih, an internationally recognized landscape artist who created Chiayi's iconic landmark “Song of Forest” and “Moon Shadow Pool Heart” in Lantan; Zheng Jianchang, an artist who has long been constructing images of unsophistication innate in Taiwanese people; and Lu Ming-Shi, an artist who initiated the Environmental Art Green Fingers Campaign. The exhibition includes artists across generations from the New Antennae Group, who through their exhibits and academic discourse convey their ideas on the environment they have grown up in and the changing world from an insider and outsider perspective as an artist. During the exhibition, there are two exciting art lectures that explore the transformation of contemporary art in Chiayi, the concept of Metaverse art, and the creation of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). They offer fresh, passionate, and experimental insights into the world of art.
President Han-Chien Lin said that the “Sound and Art in Chiayi”
festival, which showcases “the most local and international” perspectives and
energies in the realm of art, provides an inclusive performance platform for
the students, teachers, and student clubs of the university. Unlike previous editions, the festival this
year invites art teams from Chiayi and abroad to the campus, with the hope to
encourage the public to enjoy the exquisite and professional feast of music and
art. During the festival, to
foster a sense of community, four senior citizen groups from Chiayi are invited
to join the students and faculty in the “Young and Old Play Together” art show
on campus. NCYU Arts Festival
demonstrates the passion, vitality, and artistic creativity of the university,
providing the public with diverse forms of “artistic engagement.” The goal is to enhance overall art literacy and
aesthetic ability, create a hub of cultural and artistic activities in southern
Taiwan, thus fulfilling the social responsibility as a university and
contributing to holistic education.
For more information, please search “NCYU Center of Humanities and Arts” (or “ncyuhac”) on Facebook.