A Beautiful Light Travel in Taipei’s East District – Part 3 of the “Pink Dot” Art Treasure Hunt

▲ French artist Séverin Millet possesses boundless creativity, with works spanning both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. (Photo / Provided by Fubon Art Foundation, same below)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

The Pink Dot has stepped into its ninth exhibition amidst the sweltering summer heat. Along the way, it has been like experiencing the flavors of nine different fruits, but looking back now, they all taste sweet. Though peeling away the bitter skins and digging deep into the soil before tasting may be required, what’s most moving is precisely the sense of preciousness that comes from something hard-earned. Fortunately, the accumulated efforts have resulted in one touching expression after another. The spirit of Pink Dot is warmth and joy, bringing beauty and hope to life, sharing inspiration through selfless artistic creation.

Every year, Pink Dot sets up tables on street corners and in alleys to welcome creators from around the world, sparking exchanges and mutual glances. It cooks up art with a human touch, sharing various creative flavors along the way—mixed with the summer heat and rain, seasoned with the gasps of wonder and laughter as people stroll by. This is made possible thanks to the support and trust of both the public and businesses, allowing old friends and new acquaintances to gather and collectively enrich our shared memories.

Previously, we introduced 19 artworks located around the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Eslite Xinyi Life Store. Today, let’s step outside, wander the streets of the East District, and see what other unexpected creations await.

▲ Will Barras will bring an alternative visual experience to Pink Dot fans through his dynamic creations.

Live Art – One Week Project Special Feature – Artist Will Barras
This is a special project of Pink Dot and also its first dynamic exhibition spot. British artist, illustrator, and animation director Will Barras is a founding member of Scrawl Collective. His unique style lies in the fluidity of his visuals, his storytelling, and his line work.

This time, Will Barras will create a large-scale floor mural over seven days at a well-known building in Taipei’s East District in the form of Live Art. The creation process will be live-streamed online, and the public can also go watch in person. This seven-story-high mural will become a permanent public street art piece in Taipei’s East District, challenging the conventional notions of graffiti versus art.

▲ Chuang Chih-Wei creates works through the interaction of different materials.

Cosmic "Infection Series: Specimens and Space – Chuang Chih-Wei
Chuang Chih-Wei excels at using light and interactive installations for spatial creation. He focuses on the interrelationships of energy flow between people, objects, spaces, and environmental fields, transforming his subtle experiences of life into art. With a background in both art and architecture, he has in recent years continued to explore the possibilities of cross-disciplinary integration between new media art and architecture through experiments with digital tech objects and natural biological materials.

This work, located in the everyday Café, delves beneath the surface of daily life to explore spiritual imagination. It presents a surreal, weightless universe through fluorescent tubes, also incorporating plant specimens, and discusses the delicate balance and coexistence between human technology and nature.

▲ Huang Pin-Tung allows people to feel extraordinary emotions in ordinary life through personification.

Thank You, Big Tree – “In the Morning... We Met... Shyly Waiting...” – Creator Huang Pin-Tung
The artwork “Thank You, Big Tree – In the Morning... We Met... Shyly Waiting...” is located in the “XIE XIE” tea shop, where “XIE XIE” means thank you.

Huang Pin-Tung uses the image of a baby to depict the true nature of every person. Everyone has a child within them, and when that child is awakened, the world seen through their eyes becomes different. Finding extraordinary emotions in ordinary life can also fill one’s own life with beautiful colors.

The three exhibited works personify nature through “sea,” “flower,” and “tree,” attempting to depict the stories that occur throughout the long and short journey of life. They symbolize the wondrous uniqueness of life’s journey through “an unknown beginning,” “expectations along the way,” and “an ending that is also a beginning.” Because life is unpredictable, every moment becomes all the more precious. Through her works, Huang Pin-Tung invites people to slow down and savor the uniquely beautiful tea of each individual’s life.

▲ Lo I-Chen has long paid attention to issues concerning people, land, and nature, developing past experiences into an interactive garden installation.

Games in the Courtyard – Lo I-Chen
Artista Perfetto is a group of six coffee enthusiasts from Hong Kong who aim to perfectly combine coffee and art, presenting the many facets of coffee vividly to fellow coffee lovers.

“Games in the Courtyard” continues artist Lo I-Chen’s long-standing focus on people, land, and nature. Drawing from past experiences, she created an interactive garden installation. Upon entering the outdoor courtyard of Artista Perfetto café, one sees a series of potted plants arranged in a “field” grid pattern, instantly transforming the space into a childhood playground—“Hopscotch”—evoking the leisurely scenes of people strolling, jumping, and walking along field ridges in the past.

The artist reinterprets the concept of field ridges through a hopscotch format, blending it seamlessly with the surrounding garden landscape. Visitors are invited to slow down, set aside their hurried pace and mood, engage actively with the artwork, and follow the designed play method to experience rare moments of comfort and leisure in the busy urban life.

▲ “Specimen Museum Chapter One / You Are My Nature Mini” reveals the perspectives of internet-generation youth in understanding the world, using virtual and biomimetic nature to signify humanity’s longing for nature.

Specimen Museum Chapter One / You Are My Nature Mini – Wu Quan-Lun
“Specimen Museum Chapter One / You Are My Nature Mini” can be seen at “Golden Eggo Handmade Golden Egg Rolls.”

Artworks are always closely tied to the creator’s state of mind, life, and living. Wu Quan-Lun’s work reveals the perspectives of internet-generation youth in understanding the world, using virtual and biomimetic nature to signify humanity’s longing for nature.

“Specimen Museum Chapter One” draws inspiration from a specimen museum in Tainan. After rephotographing animal portraits, the works are reinterpreted with added digitally fabricated image frames. Placing these seemingly heavy yet actually thin frames and photos on the same visual layer compresses the boundaries between nature and human-made, power and taste.

Meanwhile, "You Are My Nature mini" treats plastic as an uncarved block of marble, using the eyes as coordinates to carefully strip away the surface coatings and excess white base material of plastic toy animals, revealing the faces they might possess. The process is entirely one of subtraction, yet the result seems as if human-like faces have been added. By crossing boundaries, it becomes a unique natural landscape in the artist's eyes.

▲ Hsu Ting-jui values environmental protection and creates various origami works using waste materials.

“Eagle” · Chameleon” · Incident—About That Banana” · “Scottish Terrier” · Changing the World with a Hundred Trees” · “Isn’t This Good?” － Hsu Ting-jui
Origami is a memory from people’s childhoods. Through the movement of hands, it transforms the flat into the three-dimensional. Origami is like everyone’s first sculpture.

In the origami series, Hsu Ting-jui created "Eagle" and placed it at Mule Animal Hospital — embodying a heart for environmental and land conservation, extending care beyond humans to other living beings on this land; "Scottish Terrier" retrieves the simplicity forgotten in childhood; "Chameleon" explores the hidden and revealed aspects of interpersonal and psychological consciousness.

In addition, he also uses waste materials in his creations, skillfully transforming discarded items into iron flowers or into the supporting pillars of plant pots. With a mindset that values environmental protection, Hsu Ting-jui re-examines the processes and profit-driven mechanisms of consumption, and seriously considers whether economic benefits can also become environmental benefits. Hsu Ting-jui not only experiments diversely with metal materials but also uses his works to express his care for the world.

▲ "Human Floating World" showcases the artist’s observations of people, presenting a colorful and diverse social landscape.

Human Floating World － Séverin MILLET
French artist Séverin Millet has an endless stream of creativity, with works spanning both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. "Human Floating World" is a representative piece of his sculpture work, located in the plaza of Fubon Life Insurance Building.

The characters, each with distinct appearances, show subtle influences from African and Native American totems, while also incorporating the artist’s observations of people: some traits are universal to all humans, while many more are uniquely individual. People of all kinds actively thrive on their own stages, together forming this vibrant world. The artist also specifically mentioned that he does not wish to point out what personality each character represents, but rather leaves it to the audience to imagine and connect with their own life experiences.

▲ Tola Wewe’s works seem to engage in emotional and intellectual exchanges with ancestors.

Heart of Hope” · True Emotion Frozen in Time” · Royal Selection － Tola Wewe
Born in Nigeria in 1959, Tola Wewe worked as a cartoonist before becoming a full-time artist in 1991. His works showcase the vibrant colors of traditional African art, while also featuring a flow of various African symbols, masks, and other totems.

He once described that when creating, he becomes a conduit, engaging in emotional and intellectual exchanges with his ancestors, as if embarking on a distant journey to depict the invisible inner spirit while also conveying fantastical experiences.

To see Tola Wewe’s “Heart of Hope” · “True Emotion Frozen in Time” · “Royal Selection,” you can visit the 1F lobby of Fubon Financial Center.

▲ Aoki Akinao paints smiles on the Fubon Building, hoping to pass on the element of laughter to everyone who passes by.

Abundant Blessings － Aoki Akinao
Everyday life is the source of inspiration for Aoki Akinao’s works. With simple lines, he outlines smiley faces rich in storytelling, and his greatest joy is sharing these smiles with everyone.

In the artist’s mind, every summer, Pinkoi Lane arrives right on time in eastern Taipei. He lets the character "Ki" with its signature smile descend by parachute, carrying joyful messages to a land abundant with fruits: watermelon, banana, guava, melon, orange, apple, grape, coconut, papaya, and nine other types of fruit, symbolizing that this year marks the ninth edition of Pinkoi Lane and also the sweet results of nine years of cultivation.

When walking through the bustling city and passing by Fubon Financial Center, don’t forget to look up and feel this burst of color and warmth.

Alright！The treasure hunt with ETtoday Travel Cloud in Pinkoi Lane has come to an end. How many art pieces did you find? Regarding today’s report, Will BARRAS’s Live Art - One Week Project special event starts on August 16th — don’t miss it if you’re interested！