Taiwan’s Kinmen Ocean Art Festival to begin on Saturday

台灣金門海洋藝術節週六開幕

Art installations illuminate Taiwan’s outlying island and its attractions at night


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The opening ceremony for the Kinmen Ocean Art Festival will take place on Saturday (Oct. 23), with 10 installations that redefine Kinmen’s culture, the Kinmen County Government Tourism Department announced.

As Taiwan reopens after a COVID-19 lockdown, Kinmen is prepared to welcome tourists with another ocean art festival. The 2021 Kinmen Ocean Art Festival features light installations designed around the island’s cultural and natural landscape as well as the theme of “tranquility,” presenting the opportunity to explore a unique night view of Kinmen.

The festival defines tranquility, or “ning” (寧), as “cheerful prospects and tranquil restoration,” interweaving Kinmen’s history, art, and nature and inviting people to converse with local memories.

“Though Kinmen’s past is filled with mystery and death, hardships and loss, war and destruction, it built its own glorious story in the river of history. In the end, Kinmen will also joyfully look out into the future and reforge its value,” reads the event’s introduction.

According to the Kinmen Tourist Department, the 10 teams of artists who contributed to the program come from Kinmen, Taiwan, Japan, and Mexico, using wood, bamboo, fibers, and digital, 3D technologies to create large interactive art installations.

Some notable pieces include “The Frontline Poetry Realm,” which reminisces about the Battle of Guningtou; “Dragon Palace III Limulidae,” a giant recreation of the horseshoe crab, a living fossil now extinct in all areas of Taiwan except for Kinmen; and “The Shape of Wind,” which tries to visualize wind and sound by integrating fabrics, lights, sensors, computer programs, and Teresa Teng’s (鄧麗君) music.

Installations will open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, starting Saturday, and will be lit from 5-8 p.m. “The Shape of Wind” will put on a show of Teng’s song every 20 minutes.

On the day of the opening ceremony, visitors who take photos with any of the installations, and publicly share the photos with a tag of the event, may receive a set of creative wall stickers as a gift.