By MOOK Travel Life Chen Guanxin, compiled and reported
The large-scale outdoor public art exhibition "1,600 Pandas World Tour—Taipei," co-organized by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Information and Tourism and Left Brain Creative Marketing, will debut in Taipei on February 28. Prior to the opening, the organizing team will take 1,600 pandas to various popular spots in Taipei for pop-up photo ops.
The paper pandas welcomed the dawn of Taipei at Dajia Riverside Park this morning. (Photo provided by Taipei City Government Department of Information and Tourism)
To build excitement for the paper panda exhibition opening on February 28, from now until next Monday, the panda army will be making pop-up appearances at major Taipei landmarks. This morning at 4:30 AM, the team first brought the pandas to their first stop, “Dajia Riverside Park,” followed by sequential appearances at the Taipei Expo Park’s New Dawn Area, Ketagalan Boulevard, Dunhua South Road Tree-lined Boulevard (between Ren’ai Road and Zhongxiao East Road), Xinyi Civic Plaza, National Theater, and other locations.
The Department of Information and Tourism stated that to help the public better understand the plight of endangered species, the pop-up event will not only feature the panda army but also ten other endangered animals, including the Formosan black bear, polar bear, black rhinoceros, Asian elephant, Chinese white dolphin, Formosan clouded leopard, green sea turtle, fairy pitta, Ryukyu brown frog, and Formosan leopard cat. Photos from the pop-up events will later be shared on the official fan page and website of the paper panda exhibition. Everyone is invited to spot which animals are accompanying the pandas around Taipei’s streets.
A stone leopard paper sculpture created by local artist Po Fen-ping becomes friends with a paper panda. (Photo provided by Taipei City Government Department of Information and Tourism)
The organizing team also specially invited local artist Po Fen-ping to create paper sculptures of these 10 endangered animals, using a unique hand-molded texture that echoes the artistic style of Paulo’s paper pandas. Po Fen-ping said that for this sculpture project featuring 10 endangered wildlife species, she carefully studied and understood the techniques of French artist Paulo. She even tried recreating the paper panda sculptures herself to experience the artist's creative spirit, hoping to raise greater awareness about wildlife conservation. Information about the pop-up events will also be announced on the official fan page “Paper Panda Exhibition, 1,600 Pandas World Tour—Taipei.”
1,600 Paper Pandas Pop-Up Schedule
2/21 (Fri) 12:00–12:30 Taipei Expo Park New Dawn Area
2/22 (Sat) 07:00–07:30 Ketagalan Boulevard
2/22 (Sat) 12:00–12:30 Dunhua South Road Tree-lined Boulevard (between Ren’ai Road and Zhongxiao East Road)
2/24 (Mon) 17:00–17:30 Xinyi Civic Plaza
2/24 (Mon) 22:00–22:30 National Theater
● Related Reading:
Centennial Celebration: 100 Paper Panda Sculptures Arrive at Taipei Zoo
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