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 Silver in Evenemangs- och Händelsedesign Competition Category.

SilverEvenemang· 2021

Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival

by BIAS Architects and Associates

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

A' Design Award i Silver Winner in Evenemang Category

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Verified Award Winner

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The Design

About Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival

Sedan 2018 har BIAS utvecklat och implementerat en stadsfestival för att hjälpa Daxi township att förbereda sig för den viktigaste religiösa ceremonin på platsen. Vanligtvis är taiwanesiska ceremonier konservativa och baserade på lantliga traditioner som dikterar en strikt uppsättning regler. För att dela charmen med folktro med den urbana allmänheten, förmedlade BIAS traditionerna genom en strategisk uppsättning designinterventioner och aktiviteter som ger en popkulturell atmosfär till evenemanget. I synnerhet agerade BIAS som curator och bjöd in olika unga konstnärer och designers att samarbeta med de som bevarar gamla traditioner.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Silver

Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival är vinnare av A' Design Award i Silver, ett utomordentligt prestigefyllt erkännande som tilldelas förstklassiga, hänförande och imponerande designverk i toppskiktet. Silvervinnare är oerhört briljanta och utomordentligt kreativa verk som illustrerar sina formgivares enastående expertis, talang och skarpsinne. Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival förväntas vara ett underbart paradexempel som är anmärkningsvärt professionellt och djupt innovativt. Detta vinnande verk i A' Design Award i Silver är en mycket uppmärksammad, beundrad uppfinning som gagnar och flyttar fram gränserna för konst, vetenskap, design och teknik. Daxi Daxi Lokal Kulturfestival är en skapelse som avundas starkt, som väcker längtan, förmedlar positiva känslor och väcker förundran och häpnad.

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