welcome to National Central University

The 17-day “2020 Taoyuan Land Art Festival” took place in Zhongli and Pingzhen Districts from September 18 to October 4, 2020. Seven artworks were exhibited on the campus of National Central University (NCU), including the most sizable artwork, “The Garuda Has Landed,” which was set up on the lawn where Tai-Ji Statue was located. The idea of “The Garuda Has Landed,” designed by Indonesian artist Effan Adhiwira, originated from the bird-like creature on the Indonesian national emblem. The spreading wings of the artwork symbolize that audience is all embraced under the wings of inclusiveness and unity, which are the essential elements in the process of city construction.

 “It is our pleasure to take part in the ‘2020 Taoyuan Land Art Festival’ organized by the Taoyuan City Government. The NCU campus is situated in both Zhongli and Pingzhen districts, and NCU has been established in Shuanglianpo for 52 years. Though our university is famous for science and engineering, the whole campus is filled with a humanistic atmosphere. NCU always aims at being one of the leading universities with deep humanistic concerns. With this Art Festival, we hope that residents in the neighborhood may pay frequent visits to the NCU campus to appreciate both the artworks and the beautiful campus,” said Dr. Jing-Yang Jou, President of NCU.

The Land Art Festival this year themed upon “Creative Cityscaping.” The whole festival centers upon the future of the city, natural landscapes, and circular economy; it further explores the relations between urban and rural areas and between land and constructions. The festival chose bamboo as the major material for artworks as bamboo is a dispensable daily material. Moreover, Taoyuan is the major bamboo exporter in the bamboo industry in Taiwan, occupying about 60% in quantity. It makes Taoyuan a perfect place for developing bamboo art.

The seven artworks exhibited on the NCU campus had their own distinguishing characteristics. In addition to “The Garuda Has Landed” on the Tai-Ji Statue Lawn, “Monologue of Prime Number Changes,” designed with the concept of a tree house, attracted adults and children to linger around it. “CONNECTION,” situated on the lawn beside the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, illustrated the beauty of traditional bamboo weaving craft with the style of flowing space. The “Mobile Bamboo Exhibition Pavilion” on the lawn in front of Science Building No. 1 was a bamboo-made movable exhibition pavilion. The artwork “Under the Wing” allowed visitors to stay and relax with its semi-open space design. The “Breeze of Tea House” featured the image of a continuously blowing breeze and created an endless circle. Finally, the “TensFlow” at the “Walking Amongst the Clouds” area in front of the International Student Dormitory created a sense of floating lightness by using tensegrity as the basic structure and making bamboo tubes interconnected neither with each other nor with the ground. These artworks not only demonstrated the distinctive creation styles of the artists but also brought Taiwanese craftsmen’s spirit to its extreme.