Field Trip: Creative Expo Taiwan 2019
By Pamela Wong
Creative Expo Taiwan 2019 opened with a performance by local troupe U-Theatre. Photo by HEM MEDIA. Courtesy BIAS Architects, Taipei / Taoyuan.
At the opening ceremony for the ninth Creative Expo Taiwan (CET), a luminous, stationary palanquin greeted me at the entrance of the interconnected factory space at the east side of Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park. Encouraged by distant sounds of Chinese shanai horns and gongs, I walked into the venue and encountered a band rehearsal in one corner of the space and in another, a singer preparing for a performance at her vanity table. Thirty minutes later, the band, the singer and several other performers left their positions and came together, carrying the palanquin, on a small stage to perform traditional Taiwanese opera and contemporary drum performances. This opening event, organized by local performance troupe U-Theatre and under the program titled “Stage on the Move,” was a fitting introduction to this year’s 12-day CET, encapsulating an ancient Chinese proverb that describes how “one minute of performance on stage takes ten years of practice off the stage.”
