Buddha spins beats at Taichung's hallucinatory Mount Ecstasy

台中虛迷山上的旋轉佛像

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Divine beings have swapped their robes for headphones at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.

Mount Ecstasy, an immersive exhibition at the museum’s U-Space, invites visitors into a hallucinatory world where myths, beats, and Taiwanese culture collide. Even Buddha takes a turn on the DJ turntables as the show runs through Sept. 21.

The exhibition takes its name from Mount Sumeru, the sacred cosmic mountain in Buddhist and Indian cosmology. Here, it is reimagined as a stage where divine beings, digital illusions, and spiritual parties converge.

According to 2024 statistics, around 5.5 million individuals, or 23.9% of people in Taiwan, identify as Buddhists. However, these figures may overlap with followers of Taoism, Confucianism, or other local folk beliefs, reflecting the complex and pluralistic nature of religion in Taiwan, according to Yuan Kuang Buddhist College.

Artist Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中) transforms his recent painting series into a surreal universe that fuses these beliefs with Taiwanese society, technology, history, and ancient myths. Using 3D game engines and surround sound, the exhibition becomes a multi-sensory playground, blending mythology, social commentary, and mind-bending audiovisual effects.

Yao describes the series as a modern mythbook, designed to inspire younger creators to invent new legends rooted in Taiwanese culture. With a mix of maritime folklore, tech-infused fantasies, and psychedelic visuals, Mount Ecstasy crafts a world where reality and imagination dance together.