Taiwanese-British collaboration 'Artists Home Swap' explores Dongyin

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) Three artists with the Taiwanese-British art collaboration "Artists Home Swap" have brought their creative eyes to Dongyin, one of the Matsu Islands, and highlighted their favorite features through a variety of interactive art forms on Saturday.

Event organizer Salty Island Studio's head Tsai Pei-yuen (蔡沛原), told CNA on Sunday that the three artists are Chloë Smith, a British cross-media art creator, Yuan Cheng-bo (原承伯), a Taiwanese performing artist in the U.K., and Yurika, a Japanese curator and art practitioner.

Dongyin lies about 180 kilometers northwest of Taipei and 50 km east-northeast of the main Matsu islands of Beigan and Nangan, and the artists have been there since May 10 creating art that encapsulates the isolated island based on the theme "Border Wandering."

Yurika proposed a long-term "Dongyin Chair Project," inviting people to send her photos they have taken of chairs on the island that she will then publish online as symbols of daily life there.

Smith used a military viewfinder on the island to share her favorite places and scenery there and allow villagers to experience Dongyin from a different perspective.

Yuan's project focused on the issue of ocean waste, highlighting his environmental concerns of garbage drifting around the island through his performance art.

The artists are on the island for about a month, and Smith told CNA it will be hard for her to leave when the time comes because the islanders have been enthusiastic and the scenery has given her plenty of inspiration for artistic creation.

Yuan said the creative experience has enabled him to view Dongyin through a different prism and given him a taste of the ebb and flow of island life.

Artists Home Swap is a cross-cultural and cross-regional art exchange program between Taiwan and the U.K. that aims to expand international horizons and facilitate cross-cultural exchanges and cooperation.