T.A.P. Project – The Era of Human-made

Photo credit: National Taichung Theater

Starting in 2020, T.A.P. Project has been transforming the lobby and foyer of the National Taichung Theater (NTT) into wonderlands after wonderlands for countless visitors, through painting the unique curved walls with immersive projection mapping. T stands for technology, theatre and Taichung. A for art, architecture and audience. P for projection, performance and playfulness. The series has invited and worked with several new media artists, including Taiwanese designer Sun Ruey-horng, World Stage Design winner Ethan Wang, and international artists such as Alex Guevara. One of its past projects, named Wonderland by company IF Plus, received a reddot award for Exhibition Design in 2022. The latest series of the project The Era of Human-made begins from the end of 2022 to February 2023, once again coating the NTT’s walls and ceiling with brand new magical wonders of projection mapping.

Escher Tsai (Photo credit: Dimension Plus)

The Era of Human-made deals with the theme of how we are now officially saying goodbye to the organic earth and entering an era when the total weight of human-made objects exceeded the total weight of natural substances, as of 2020. While the aesthetics of seeking something sublime originated from our appreciation of nature’s grandeur and harshness, the development of technology has transited that focus of sublime from nature to technology. Through artificial intelligence and other better technics, we are able to create a human-made nature that can amaze and move the others. Elaborating on this concept, curator Escher Tsai with the studio Dimension Plus invites Italian new media art group fuse* with their work Artificial Botany, Mexican graffiti artist Rimiyoho and Austrian digital graffiti team OMAi with FUTURE BIOSPHERE. A colourful dream by Rimiyoho, and Hong Kong media art artist Keith Lam’s Homeward Waves. Three marvelous artistic teams work together across continents, rethinking the propositions of nature, technology and sublime.

Artificial Botany by fuse*

Photo credit: National Taichung Theater

The latest version of Artificial Botany at the NTT is a one-of-a-kind production, due to the fact that it is site-specific this time in the cave-like space inside the NTT. As an artwork dealing with experience, it focuses on deep thinking, inviting the audience to linger upon the transition of patterns and be drawn in by the process. The creative team, fuse*, is a multidisciplinary art studio that investigates the expressive possibilities of digital technologies, aiming to interpret the complexity of human, social and natural phenomena. From 25 November 2022 to 2 January 2023, the exhibit demonstrates AI simulating the gradual growth of plants, hoping to let the audience navigate themselves through the multi-dimensional space of neural network, exploring the comparison between machine learning algorithm and natural evolution.

FUTURE BIOSPHERE. A colorful dream by Rimiyoho by Rimiyoho and OMAi

Photo credit: National Taichung Theater

Following after Artificial Botany, Rimiyoho, a projection painting project by visual artist and illustrator Fernando Sica from Mexico City, teams up with Austrian media art collective company OMAi by using visual live instrument app Tagtool. The pair collaboratively creates together and presents vivid analog drawing of mystical creatures and rhythmic music with psychedelic touch. From 6 January to 5 February, hoping to bring joyful atmosphere during the holidays of Chinese New Year, FUTURE BIOSPHERE. A colourful dream by Rimiyoho transforms the foyer of the NTT into a colorful dream of a bright future that is green, sustainable and highly evolved.

Homeward Waves by Keith Lam

Photo credit: National Taichung Theater

The last of The Era of Human-made series is never the least. Hong Kong Media artist Keith Lam foraged the inspiration for Homeward Waves from the coastline of Taiwan. Through collecting videos of different waves, the recorded movements were transformed into visual creation of serenity, together with the compressed sound of the splashing seashore. Lam hopes that by the healing power of the sound of waves, the exhibit can help transmit the same feeling of “coming home.”

For more info: https://npacntt.tw/n14ljNQr