Yuejin Lantern Festival, the romantic grand event everyone has been waiting for, will be held between Feb. 10 and Mar. 4 this year at Yuejin Harbor in Yanshui District, Tainan City, with the theme “Rendezvous”. The curation team invited international and domestic artists, as well as local college students, to submit their artworks and present a brand new visual production at the festival. A total of 48 light art installations will be displayed for 23 days, offering an unforgettable visual feast to the public. On the evening of Feb. 10, the Tainan City Government will hold the opening and lighting ceremony on the floating platforms in Yuejin Harbor. Guests from home and abroad are invited to announce the opening of the 2018 Yuejin Lantern Festival together.
This is the seventh year of the exquisite annual lantern festival which will be held at Yuejin Harbor, once the fourth largest trading harbor in Taiwan, in Yanshui District. With “artistic, eco-friendly and local” as its main topics, the festival unites the newly renovated existing landscape, local culture and history with collaboration artworks by artists from different countries. Every year the festival invites numerous world-famous artists and top local art groups to collaborate and create art. It is a “night art museum” that combines the existing water surface, harbor side scenery and rich local culture and arts. In the past six years, the lantern festival has accumulated over 1.73 million visitors.
The theme for the 2018 Yuejin Lantern Festival is "Rendezvous", indicating that the festival is not only just an event, but also a place where different individuals, different art works, the global and local, the present and the future can connect and meet up. This year the organizer invited international and domestic modern artists who specialize in technology and new media art to participate in the event. The 24 pieces exhibited in the Theme Lanterns Area are all assembled on-site. The pieces join lights with the local history and culture of Yanshui and show a spectrum of impressions during the day and night. The works explore and incorporate various elements, including nature, history, civilization, human relationships, and space and time, creating a romantic atmosphere for visitors. The Open Calls Area, which was also set up in the past two years, has expanded this year. Twenty-four art pieces will decorate the extended water area of Yuejin Harbor. There are also three major “firsts” this year:
1.The first bilateral collaboration with Kyoto’s light festival
This is the first time Yuejin lantern festival collaborated with Kyoto Hanatouro, an event held every spring in Kyoto, Japan. Teachers and students from Kyoto University of Art and Design specifically designed three installations with strong Japanese traditional imagery for Yuejin’s lantern festival: “Migratory Bird: Bridging Cultures”, “Japanese Rock Garden”, and “Tower of the culture ‘VIII’ ”. Tainan National University of the Arts creative team will also travel to Kyoto to take part in Kyoto Hanatouro in March. Through this exchange, the local cultures and modern art of Taiwan and Japan can rendezvous in Yuejin and bring a brand new visual experience to the visitors.
2.The first showcase of a world-class projection mapping program on the water surface, offering a brand new lantern festival experience
This is the first time the festival invited Technical Direction Company (TDC) from Australia, which is an indicator team in projection mapping in Australia, to design an exclusive projection mapping program for the event. Established in 1981, TDC specializes in high-end video technology solutions and image design projects. The company provides a broad range of video technology combined with LED screens, large scale projection equipment, outside broadcast trucks and broadcast camera systems, and has been involved in numerous large events in Australia, including the projection mappings on Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge, Vivid Sydney, White Night Melbourne, the opening and closing of the Olympic Games, and various prestigious television shows and international artists’ concerts. Now the people in Taiwan do not have to travel abroad to enjoy a world-class projection mapping show.
3.The first exhibition area expansion: the display area has been expanded to Shuixiu Bridge with a total area of more than 10 hectares
This year the exhibition area has been expanded to cover more than 10 hectares, starting from the Theme Lantern Area which includes artworks from Kyoto University of Art and Design students, to Shuixiu Bridge where the fantastic water surface projection mapping show by the Australian team will be shown, bringing a brand new visual experience to the visitors. The team from Tainan National University of the Arts Graduate Institute of Architecture used pieces of plant-dyed curtains, lights, and lithe structures to create the labyrinth “Happenstance” in front of the Cide Temple square. Yanshui local Yu-Yu Art Studio created the large visual installation “Unrelated” with bamboo, and UxU Design Studio set up “Intertidal Zone” in the bushes along Yuejin Harbor. “Pisces”, a collaboration piece by artists from different fields was inspired by an ancient poem "The Great Wall of the Dying Horse", and the five-meter-high installation “A Fishing Rabbit” by Animamix artist No2Good was inspired by the classical story of Jiang Taigong: “there are always fishes willing to be caught by angler Jiang Taigong”. Furthermore, the festival encouraged collage students to submit and present large installations in the Open Calls Area this year, therefore visitors can see Nanhua University’s “The Drifting Seeds”, a piece inspired by the traveler and connecting the water surface with the water bank; land installation “Blossom”, which was inspired by beehive fireworks; and the underwater piece “Spring of Life” by Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, Tainan National University of the Arts.
In addition to lantern displays, there are also other activities available during the festival. Yongcheng Theater offers a series of exciting art performances and movies during the Lunar New Year period, providing a visual and audio arts and culture delight. Old Qiaonan Street (Former Qiaonan Tourist Center) presents the annual “The Beauty of Narcissus—the Sculpture Exhibition of the Chinese Sacred Lily” to promote local lily sculptures. There is the Xinyi Flower Sea along Xinyi Road; and Octagon Building, in response to the local lantern festival, presents its very first Bamboo Lantern Exhibition. On the Lantern Festival holiday, beehive fireworks will be lit. More and more people are crowding into Yanshui during the Lunar New Year holidays. Students from the eco-friendly art classes directed by the Environmental Protection Bureau also installed delicate paper art within the hidden alleys and lanes in Yanshui old street area, setting up surprises for the visitors. A wide array of additional events and activities are all welcoming you to visit Yanshui and experience the history and beauty of Yuejin.