A Beautiful Light Travel in Taipei’s East District – Part 1 of the “Pinkoi Town” Art Treasure Hunt

▲ Swedish artist Michael Johansson created a 3D Tetris using items from daily life that are no longer usable. (Photo / Provided by Fubon Art Foundation, the same below)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

You don’t have to step into an art museum to see artworks. The“Pinkoi Town – Taipei East District Contemporary Art Exhibition”is now in its ninth year, continuing with the core spirit of a “museum without walls,” allowing urban travelers to also experience a rich variety of contemporary art forms such as installation art, sculptures, paintings, and digital art along their paths.

This year’s “Pinkoi Town” takes “Embrace” as its positive life keyword. With the participation of 28 artist groups, including more than 14 international artists, the exhibition radiates outward from the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, with as many as 20 exhibition areas spread across Taipei’s East District. The exhibition runs until September 14. This article will introduce nine artworks located within the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, inviting you to join us in this summer art feast.

“Time Folded and Woven—Records of the Horizon Line” by Ei Wada
The work “Time Folded and Woven—Records of the Horizon Line” by Japanese artist Ei Wada uses computers and tape recorders as materials. Known for transforming old electronic appliances into computer-controlled devices, Wada sometimes also turns these installations into musical instruments, presenting them through performances.

The exhibited piece “Time Folded and Woven—Records of the Horizon Line” features music played in another time and space recorded on magnetic tape. But as the tape slowly descends, the audience can only hear a faint zzz and 5... At this moment, the exhibition space limits both time and sound, creating a compressed sense of time and space. Once the tape has descended to a certain extent, the machine automatically starts playing back the recorded time, bringing you back to the moment the artist cherished. If you listen carefully, you may feel as if you’ve entered a realm where time and auditory perception intertwine.

“Work” by Creator Wang Yuyang
Chinese artist Wang Yuyang converted a selected passage of text into a sequence of 0s and 1s, then used 3D modeling software (3ds Max) and painting software (Painter) to generate corresponding 3D models and images. For this sculpture, he used the verse from Chapter 40 of the Dao De Jing: “Reversal is the movement of the Dao; weakness is the function of the Dao. All things under heaven arise from being; being arises from non-being,” along with iron, red copper, and stainless steel.

Wang Yuyang said: “Ordinary viewers often encounter a work and first limit their interpretation based on its appearance and title, projecting personal experiences onto its meaning. However, when they learn about the generation process and the original text, they begin to reconsider the relationship between the text and the image, integrating them into a new form of understanding. Try letting go of fixed logical thinking and open up infinite ways of perceiving things. Let’s try to abandon conventional logic and unlock boundless understandings of the world.”

II. “Pip & Pop” by Tanya Schultz
Australian artist Tanya Schultz, under the name Pip & Pop, used hundreds of kilograms of fine sugar, glitter, paint, and decorative items to create an overwhelmingly dazzling and enchanting scene.

▲ Schultz used vibrant colors to construct an abstract utopian world.

Schultz has long been fascinated by stories about the pursuit of utopia. Interestingly, similar tales can be found across different cultures—whether it’s the search for a lost paradise or abstract dreams and love—these seem to be universal human aspirations and a common language.

▲ Schultz incorporated Eastern stories to create fantasy worlds like Peach Blossom Spring, the white deer of Sun Moon Lake, and the Cowherd and Weaver Girl.

In the magical world specially created for Pinkoi Town, the artist borrowed the familiar Taiwanese tale of “Peach Blossom Spring” and integrated legends such as “The White Deer of Sun Moon Lake” and “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl,” exploring humanity’s longing for material abundance and fulfilled dreams. Though utopian stories may seem like escapism, they also respond to today’s materialistic and consumer-driven world. Through a candy-coated, dreamy world, the artist reflects on those seemingly beautiful yet ultimately illusory moments in real society.

III. “Unboxing Series: Three Little Wooden Fish / Seascapes / Noise Machine / 4.Seq#1” by Creator Wang ZhongX
Wang ZhongX is one of Taiwan’s rising stars in recent tech-based art. He has created a variety of machines that possess intriguing simplicity and unique aesthetics. These machines tirelessly perform their own movements—making sounds, switching on and off, exhaling, spinning, or tingling—when they sense a visitor approaching. They don’t just execute simple actions; instead, they each have their own rhythm, appearing both childishly stubborn and oddly alive.

▲ One of Wang ZhongX’s works: three wooden fish.

Continuing his obsession with kinetic sculpture—what he calls “overly complex instruments” and “non-musical sounds”—Wang ZhongX’s Unboxing Series uses the emergence of sound to imagine the hidden space inside the box. The quirky instruments themselves are concealed within portable suitcase-like containers. The act of opening and closing them makes it seem as though the objects, once separated from their owners, have gained a soul.

IV. “Tetris” by Creator Michael Johansson
Have you ever imagined bringing Tetris from a handheld game into real life? Furniture, cabinets, storage boxes—all kinds of everyday items can be flipped and rearranged, challenging your spatial arrangement skills.

▲ Michael Johansson creates artworks using second-hand items.

The Swedish artist Michael Johansson has an indescribable passion for second-hand goods. Ordinary objects, once in his hands, seem to trigger a switch—turning, flipping, and becoming part of an art installation. Removed from their usual context, familiar items suddenly feel strange, and this blend of familiarity and unfamiliarity becomes a catalyst that sparks the viewer’s imagination, inviting repeated contemplation.

Johansson meticulously arranges old items from all over, where objects carrying different stories become inseparable parts of one another, as if he’s gathered fragments of lost time and quietly compressed them into this small space. In terms of color, Johansson also carefully matched the hues of old tobacco factory paints. Yet, the passage of time carries the weight of memories, and no amount of precise calculation can truly dissolve what lies hidden. Instead, it steps forward boldly, inviting viewers to ponder and read.

V. “Happy Birthday, Taipei People!” by Creator Bai Shuangquan
Artist Pak Sheung Chuen, who works in photography, painting, and conceptual art, creates works that playfully blur the boundaries between art and life. Through his art, he facilitates interactions between people, as well as between individuals and the city, and between humans and nature.

▲ Pak Sheung Chuen’s handwritten notebooks are indispensable tools in his creative process.

“L Notes” is the notebook Pak Sheung Chuen carries with him and serves as the core of his artistic creation. He records the imaginative thoughts that come to him when he is calm in daily life. These ideas may evolve into various actions that could change the world, but their very existence has already quietly transformed the artist himself.

In this edition of Pinkoi Art Lane, Pak Sheung Chuen invites the public to come on their birthdays to exchange memories. By sharing past recollections, participants can experience the flow and sharing of life journeys.

Additionally, Pak Sheung Chuen’s “Happy Birthday, Taipei People!” project trained seven “memory archaeologists,” named Monday through Sunday. Each sits in a café on their respective day, excavating and meticulously recording the two-year-old birthday memories of visitors celebrating their birthdays that day. In exchange, they will share memories from two years ago on the same date.

How to participate: Are you the birthday star? Those born between July 20 and September 14 are welcome to visit on your birthday to exchange memories with the memory archaeologists. Only one participant per day is allowed—please register in advance atthe Fubon Art Foundation website.
Event time: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM daily. (Sessions begin at 3:00 PM and last about 1–1.5 hours)
Event location: Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (see the Fubon Art Foundation official website for details).

VI. “Bubble Tower” – Creator Qiu Zhaocai
Located in the Baroque Garden of Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, the Bubble Tower is a work by Qiu Zhaocai. “Interaction” is a key element in Qiu’s creations. He incorporates active human participation into mechanically rational sculptures and blends them with witty, humorous language, transforming everyday sights into a playful, childlike world.

▲ The amount of bubbles produced each day is limited. If the Bubble Tower runs out of bubbles, please refrain from spinning it further.

Blowing bubbles, a childhood game where gentle puffs send big and small bubbles floating through the air, brings moments of joy that momentarily lift the surrounding scene beyond reality, revealing dreams and beautiful imaginings. The “Bubble Tower” is a mechanical bubble-blowing installation that operates through audience interaction. When visitors turn the circular handle, it activates the device to blow bubbles of various sizes. This piece aims to transform the atmosphere of real space using bubbles, immersing participants in the light, delightful, and dreamy ambiance created as bubbles float by.

▲ “Tropical Riot” on the exterior wall of the restroom.

VII. “Tropical Riot” – Creators Cherng x Xue
“Tropical Riot” is exhibited on the exterior wall of the restroom between Warehouse No. 1 and No. 2 in Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. Through a strong contrast of color and black-and-white imagery, it delivers an artistic storm to everyone about to enter the restroom.

Cherng is a representative of Taiwan’s new generation of illustrators. He rose to fame in 2012 through social media and describes himself as “a quirky figure wandering the internet in the guise of a tapir.” His works are all in black-and-white line drawings, and he enjoys describing the trivialities of life in great detail, showcasing a distinctive personal style.

Xue, whose real name is Xue Congxian, grew up in a small seaside village. He has loved drawing since childhood and has been inseparable from a paintbrush since the age of three, seeing it as motivated by curiosity about the world. He is the author of the illustrated book Mineral Museum. His works often feature animals as protagonists, using delicate lines to depict observations of life. In addition to illustration, he has also participated in the production of several music videos.

▲ “They Hit You with Pretty Candy” on the fence, created by SMOKY.

VIII. “They Hit You with Pretty Candy” – Creator SMOKY
Smoky painted his work “They Hit You with Pretty Candy” on the fence between Warehouse No. 1 and No. 2 in Songshan Cultural and Creative Park using cement paint. His real name is Tu Haoqin, and he is from Kaohsiung. He works as an illustrator and designer with a bold and diverse style. Nowadays, he mainly focuses on motion picture creation—for example, for songs like Soda Green’s “Little Love Song” and Chen Shan-Ni’s “Nicolas.” He experiments with various visual styles in design projects and explores extreme emotions in daily life from multiple perspectives, connecting himself with everyday experiences in diverse ways.

The 2014 “Pinkoi Art Lane” featured so many artists and artworks. That’s all for today’s introduction. Stay tuned to ETtoday Travel Cloud for more information about the event’s works.