Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival by BIAS Architects and Associates

Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival by BIAS Architects and Associates is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award i Sølv in Event og Begivenheder Design Competition Category.

SølvEvent· 2021

Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival

by BIAS Architects and Associates

Client: Taoyuan City Government, Department of Cultural Affairs, & Daxi Ecomuseum

A' Design Award i Sølv Winner in Event Category

45,374

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #123023

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival

Siden 2018 har BIAS udviklet og implementeret en byfestival for at hjælpe Daxi township med at forberede sig til stedets vigtigste religiøse ceremoni. Normalt er taiwanske ceremonier konservative og baseret på landlige traditioner, der dikterer et strengt sæt regler. For at dele charmen ved folketroen med den urbane offentlighed, formidlede BIAS traditionerne ved et strategisk sæt af designinterventioner og aktiviteter, der giver en popkulturel stemning til begivenheden. BIAS fungerede især som kurator og inviterede forskellige unge kunstnere og designere til at samarbejde med dem, der bevarer gamle traditioner.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Sølv

Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival er vinder af A' Design Award i Sølv, en usædvanligt prestigefyldt anerkendelse, der tildeles designs i topklasse, som er pragtfulde og imponerende. Sølvvinderne er enormt geniale og overordentlig kreative værker, der illustrerer deres designeres fremragende ekspertise, talent og skarpsindighed. Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival forventes at være et vidunderligt udstillingsværk, der er bemærkelsesværdigt professionelt og dybt innovativt. Dette design, der har vundet A' Design Award i Sølv, er en højst bemærkelsesværdig, beundret opfindelse, som gavner og flytter grænserne for kunst, videnskab, design og teknologi. Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival er en skabelse, som mange misunder, og som vækker begær, bringer positive følelser og antænder forundring og undren.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Lord Guan's birthday celebration is an important traditional event held in the rural outskirts of Taipei. The local people call it "the second Chinese New Year for Daxi," and everyone in the township of Daxi uses to put significant effort into the preparations. Tasked to preserve and promote the event, since 2018, BIAS has developed and implemented an urban festival to help the township preparing for the celebration. The festival has been named "Daxi Daxi," i.e., a play of words that means "Good Luck Daxi." In particular, in 2020, the third installment of "Daxi Daxi," the "Lord Guan Online" concept was implemented, i.e., a creative offline and online approach that 'allows the god's blessings to spread far away' through the new media. This festival strengthened the local community's identity, but the last installment attracted more than 100,000 people to the township. Besides this, an exhibition focused on the "backstage" of the religious event and a show mixing modern and traditional arts were implemented. By this, BIAS hopes that the traditional culture can intertwine with the urban one and, thanks to this, get enough momentum to be preserved for the future.
Dimensions & Packaging: Total event area: 121,000 sqm
Tags: festival, traditional rural culture, urban pop culture, religion, parade, design as mediation, curating
Production Technology: The main concept of Daxi Daxi is to combine traditions and pop culture so as to both rejuvenate the audience of Taiwanese religious festivals and deepen the understanding of these by the young generations. In order to achieve this, a curatorial approach was adopted, focused on selecting a series of young artists and designers that could cooperate with those holding the traditions. Most importantly, the artists, designers, and the holders of traditions were supported by BIAS that mediated their cooperation so as to ease their efforts and bring it to a good end. That is to say, BIAS initiated their encounter and acted as a facilitator and translator of their different point of view.
Design Challenge: The key challenge of the project was at the curatorial level. In particular, it was the selection of third-party artists and designers that could dialogue with those today bringing forward the ancient traditions. Not only but also, it was to create proper occasions for the encounter of these seemingly opposite actors.
Research: The research was developed on various aspects, including the following. First of all, it was developed a deep understanding of ancient rituals and those people that carry on the traditions today. Then, it was developed curatorial research on a set of artists and designers that could develop a dialogue and thus intervene in the strategic renewal of traditions. Finally, mediatory research was implemented in order to help the community and the designers collaborate for the good end.
Inspiration: Usually, Taiwanese religious ceremonies are conservative and based on rural traditions that strictly dictate parade rules. To share the charm of the folk beliefs with the urban public, BIAS tried to mediate the ancient traditions by a strategic set of design interventions and educational activities that could provide a contemporary pop culture vibe to the festival.
Project Duration: The event starts in mid-July and finishes in mid-August each year since 2018 in Daxi, Taiwan. The last installment was held in 2020.
Operation Flow: The key aspects of the festival are to be found in the mixing of various aspects of the traditional parade rules and preparations with popo-culture and aesthetics. In particular, while the traditional aspects were not obliterated or negated in their functionality, touches of a new aesthetics were added and communicated to the large public as the product of a new pride of the local community.
Team Members: Main Curator: BIAS Architects & Associates
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Yu Dong, 2019
Image #2: Photographer Yu Dong, 2020
Image #3: Photographer Jia-Ying Yang, 2019
Image #4: Photographer Yu Dong, 2018
Image #5: Photographer Jia-Ying Yang, 2018