Artist Residency Program: “Round Table Stage Project”/ Candy Bird
The birthday of the deity Wangye is one of the most significant annual celebrations at Baode Temple. Beyond its religious and spiritual significance, it serves as a vital event for revitalizing the local community and fostering connections among people. Each year, a temporary stage is constructed as one of the celebration’s key visual elements. This year, artist Candy Bird undertook the stage design, creating it in collaboration with Baode Temple officials under the theme of birthday blessings.
The design highlights the temple’s migration history, centering on a figure carrying the censer dedicated to the Jade Emperor. Flanking this central figure are representations of a qilin and a tiger, symbols of auspiciousness and good fortune. On the evening of Wangye’s birthday, during the communal peace banquet, worshippers were invited to sign the stage backdrop, collectively contributing their blessings to Wangye.
Overall, this initiative exemplifies how art can engage with local history and culture. By integrating artistic expression into the celebration, it not only commemorates Baode Temple’s rich history and unique characteristics but also enables more people to experience and understand its historical significance through the lens of art.
About Aretist｜
Han Chun-Yueh, born in 1982, currently works and lives in Taipei.
Painting, moving image, lecture performance, abstract narrative, memory.
My art closely engages with the concepts of “time” and “gaps.” My early practice began with street art under the name Candy Bird, focusing on social and marginal themes. Through urban corners and public spaces, I interpreted values ignored by mainstream media and social events buried in the flow of time. As Taiwanese society has gradually changed and I have reflected on my own creations, I have recently begun to focus on depicting the transient aspects and states of different lives, engaging in deep dialogue with my own experiences and feelings. I am particularly interested in exploring memory and the power relations it represents, using microscopic life narratives to respond to grand social and historical views. The mediums I use have also diversified, and I have attempted cross-disciplinary collaborations. I integrate the rhythm and references of the mediums themselves into appropriate spaces, creating exhibitions with an overall concept. My aim is to guide the audience closer to the inner world while connecting shared feelings and prompting further contemplation of human relationships.