Taiwan to showcase 'island of miracles' during Expo 2025 Osaka

Taipei, July 3 (CNA) Taiwan will present a cultural program from Aug. 2-20 titled "We Taiwan" during the ongoing World Expo in Osaka, Japan, to show the country as an "island of miracles" with unlimited innovation, the Ministry of Culture said Thursday.

"We Taiwan" was first announced by the ministry in May as Taiwan's cultural program organized for the Expo 2025, which includes an exhibition at "VS.," a creative hub designed by Osaka-born architect Tadao Ando in the Grand Green Osaka complex close to Osaka Station, the ministry said in a statement.

"VS.," which opened last year as part of the city's Umekita urban regeneration project, is designed for new media exhibitions and immersive events and has a 15-meter-high projection space, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the "Taiwan Spectrum" exhibition is "a sensory journey that spans geography, history, culture, and contemporary art," with light, shadow and sound.

It "reflects the evolution of Taiwanese visual art," with artworks by painters such as Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波), Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖) and Lin Yu-shan (林玉山), as well as 2024 National Crafts Achievement Award recipient, dye and fabric artist Chen Ching-lin's (陳景林) new giant blue dye work inspired by Taiwan's nature, the ministry said.

The exhibition will also offer curated sounds of religious celebrations, typhoons and bird song as well as field recordings of urban environments, the ministry added.

In addition, the creative team LuxuryLogico will show a special version of its "Hard, Hard" art installation, which uses sounds and moving lights to create images of everyday items, such as a desk and a window, to recreate moments and scenes from the past, and evoke people's memories and emotions, the ministry said.

Included in "We Taiwan" is choreographer Huang Yi (黃翊)'s dance performances with the robot Kuka, a screening of Taiwanese films and a literature exhibition at the Osaka City Central Public Hall and outdoor performances at the venue's East Plaza.

An exhibition of illustrators' works will take place at Nakanoshima Children's Book Forest, where performances of "Tiger Aunt" and chamber music concerts will be held on the second and third weekends of August, respectively, according to the event website https://wetaiwan.tw/en.

Admission to "We Taiwan" is free, but some events require advance registration through the event's Line account, the ministry said.