臺北市新住民專區網站英文版

Promulgated by Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs

Released by the Population Policy Division 

Released date: December 6, 2022

Contact: Chief Wu Chung-hsin, or Ms. Lo Hsiang-yun

Telephone:1999 ext. 6258 or 6375

          0966590813 or 0935265759

    After 23 years, Taiwan Lantern Festival is finally coming back to Taipei City.

    The 2023 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taipei has a significant meaning for the city of Taipei, and it is the first international event for Taiwan after we opened our border. The 2023 Taiwan Lantern Festival is very different from all of the previous Taiwan Lantern Festivals. Instead of having most of the lanterns created directly by artists or lantern makers, this year, the organizer focused on inviting new immigrants and their children to participate in designing and creating lanterns. The goal is to bring together diverse cultures on the same platform and to let them have a conversation, to co-create, and to inspire each other. New immigrants are encouraged to draw, write, or tell how they see their native countries and their new home--Taipei City. Then all of new immigrants’ ideas are internalized by the artists and converted into co-created lanterns that has rich flavors of a new Taipei.

    Starting in October this year, Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs has organized nine new immigrant artwork co-creation events, including events such as Us Under the Stars, About Taipei, Co-creating A Scenery of Home, Creative Conversation and Bamboo Woven Lantern, and Flavors of Taipei. These events attracted more than 200 new immigrants to participate, and co-created five lanterns.

    Lighting fixture designing team Light Arts LAB and, Chou Ming-yi from Liuyu Studio use simulation renders to explain design concepts and how to participate in the process of co-creating to new immigrants. Through hands-on workshops, new immigrants are motivated by the instructors to create artworks using their native cultures. And by using new immigrants’ native cultures as inspiration, they were able to create unique symbols and designs, and will become a part of lanterns in the Taiwan Lantern Festival. This year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival also invited Japanese new immigrant Daisuke Nagatomo and his wife architect Chan Ming-ni, local bamboo weaving artist Wang Wen-chih, paper sculpture artist Cheng Jo-han to organize a co-creation camp. The camp allows artists to have face-to-face conversations with new immigrants, giving them a chance to express their emotions toward Taipei, or convey what they missed about their hometown through thematic paintings. Then, new immigrants’ ideas are carefully woven into lanterns by the artists to create several highly anticipated artworks.

    Lanterns are not only the main body of the exhibition, through the participation of new immigrants and their children, lanterns are now vessels that carries stories of diverse cultures. When lights are illuminating from the lanterns, they also give new flavors to Taipei City.