The Wishing Field

When the Wind Blows Through the Isolated Land - Unexpected Flow

The first phase of lighting installation exhibited at the 2021 Hsinchu Visiting Art Festival is the Longenzhen International Light District. A total of 8 lighting installations on site were created by international artists from Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Japan, Taiwan and other international artists, interspersed in the Longenzhen waterways and parks. Under the field of artistic lighting, a different beauty of the city is revealed.

Long En Canal is one of the three ancient canals in Taiwan. Its exhibition area was transformed into a riverside park carrying the imagery of a ‘Mystical Forest’ by Fieldoffice Architects. The word ‘Zhen’(圳) is a Taiwanese dialect and refers to troughs used for irrigation in fields. The light installation is a response to the Festival’s theme ‘When the Wind Blows Through the Isolated Land - Unexpected Flow. The concept of the installation is inspired by rice paddies, its form particularly from their undulating forms under the northeast monsoons. The design mimics the action of seedling planting, staging a reappearance of the lost paddies atop a river that flows with vitality. Thirty-eight hundred of these little lights of hope would then illuminate the greenery of the city. Following its separation, light reunites life, and life thrives once again in a place where light and shadow interweaves in harmony.

The paddies support relentlessly the pulsing vein of the city that is Dongda Road, complementing the greenery on the riverbanks of Long En Canal. Not only do they heal the weary soul—they embody the warmth in simple things. A channel of light acts as prayer in these lantern sites, that Taiwan will walk hand in hand with the world to walk out of the shadows to welcome a bright future waiting ahead, to reinvigorate the passion present in everyone’s heart.

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