Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl by BIAS Architects and Associates

Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl by BIAS Architects and Associates is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 Mahuizolli A' Design Award Iztacteocuitlatl in Ilhuitl ihuan Mochihualiztli Tlachihchihualiztli Competition Category.

IztacteocuitlatlIlhuitl· 2021

Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl

by BIAS Architects and Associates

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

Mahuizolli A' Design Award Iztacteocuitlatl Winner in Ilhuitl Category

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The Design

About Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl

Ipan 2018, BIAS oquichiuh ihuan oquitlali ce altepeilhuitl inic quipalehuiz in Daxi altepetl mochichihuaz ipan in huey teotlamanaliztli inchan. Zan no cenca, in Taiwanecan tlamanaliztin yectenehua cateh ihuan mocencahuah ipan miltlamatiliztli in quitoah chicahuac tlamanitiliztli. Inic monextiz in macehualli teoyotl ipan in altepetlacah, BIAS onetlahtohqui in tlamatiliztli ipan tlapatililizchihualiztli ihuan tequiuh in quitlalihtinemi ce yancuic tlacayotl ihiyotl ipan ilhuitl. Ixquich oc, BIAS omochiuh tlaihcuilohqui ihuan oquinnotzqui miac cuacuauhtlachihuanih ihuan chihuanih inic tlayecchihuazqueh ihuan aquihqueh piah huehuetlamatiliztli.

The Recognition

About the Mahuizolli A' Design Award Iztacteocuitlatl

Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl ca in quicuic in Mahuizolli A' Design Award Iztacteocuitlatl, hueyi tlamahuizoliztli tlen momaca in huel yectli, tlanextic ihuan mahuiztic tlachihualli. In quicuicah Iztacteocuitlatl ca cenca cualli ihuan cenca yancuic tlachihualli in quinextia in tlamatiliztli, toltecayotl ihuan ixtlamatiliztli intlachihuanime. Ca quinequi in Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl ca cenca cualli, cenca motequiuhtia ihuan yancuic. Ni dizayno in quicuic Iztacteocuitlatl quihuelitia in toltecayotl, tlamatiliztli, dizayno ihuan teknolohia. Daxi Daxi Nican Tlacayotl Ilhuitl quiyolchicahua in tlacah, quipaquiltia ihuan quitlamahuiztiltia.

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