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Writing the Landscape: A Light Show

 Date
Installation：2024.12.23-2025.2.24
Projection：2025.1.31-2025.2.24

Artists|Company 
Installation：HO Ching Chwang, LIU,Ming Che, Hozen Studio
Projection：Digimax

 Introduction
To celebrate the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taoyuan, the Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts | Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center (HCAC) is hosting Writing the Landscape: A Light Show from Christmas to the Lantern Festival. This event brings together the creative talents of Ho Ching Chwang, Liu Ming-che, Hozen Studio, and Digimax. Through calligraphic elements such as brushstrokes, poetry, and seal carving, merged with lighting design and projection, the light show transforms the HCAC into a dynamic “landscape of calligraphy.”

Writing the Landscape highlights the HCAC’s outdoor spaces and explores the rich metaphors and symbolism between calligraphy and nature. The interplay of architectural light and shadow, the movement of wind, ripples on water, and the dance of golden maple leaves create a sensory experience that evokes the essence of calligraphy and the natural beauty of the HCAC’s landscape at night. The exhibition comprises two sections: “Classical Calligraphy: Winding Stream” and “Modern Calligraphy: Poems and Quote,” fostering a dialogue between tradition and modernity. Visitors are invited to delve beyond calligraphy itself and reflect on the multifaceted connections among HCAC’s nightscape, calligraphy art, and the audience.

Classical Calligraphy: Winding Stream

Inspired by Wang Xizhi’s Lantingji Xu from the Eastern Jin dynasty, “Winding Stream” evokes the elegant gatherings of literati depicted in the text, symbolizing the poetic beauty and classical spirit of calligraphy. At the HCAC, this traditional imagery is reinterpreted using its architectural features, including five seal-shaped inkstone pavilions and the reflective pools as a projection canvas. Enhanced by the concept of “Inkfinity,” created by Digimax, the work resonates with the INKFINITY: International Calligraphy Masters Exhibition inside the HCAC.

The piece narrates the timeless pursuit of individuality and expression through calligraphy, symbolized by the fluidity of ink and brushstrokes. The imagery of the “winding stream” embodies the flowing, rhythmic motions of calligraphy, reminiscent of a stream coursing naturally and gracefully. The interplay of light and shadow evokes the sensation of ink flowing through the audience’s hearts, inspiring a profound connection with classical calligraphy. This imagery also harmonizes with the outdoor environment, blending the elegance of the “winding stream” into HCAC’s nocturnal atmosphere, creating a poetic dialogue among humanity, culture, calligraphy, and art.

Modern Calligraphy: Poems and Quote

This section features Ho Ching Chwang’s Hengshan and Liu Ming-che’s Dwelling in Reality, Roaming in Emptiness, in collaboration with Hozen Studio, presenting an artistic interplay of modern calligraphy and light installations.

Ho Ching Chwang’s Hengshan is a modern poetic tribute to the HCAC’s landscape, brought to life by Hozen Studio’s glowing light installations. The words of the poem, each radiant and dynamic, rise like vibrant beings and sway gracefully in the wind, echoing the vitality of life.

Liu Ming-che’s Dwelling in Reality, Roaming in Emptiness employs seal carving as a creative form, expressing the interplay of presence and absence, materiality and void. The work aligns with the HCAC’s architectural concept of blending solid and void spaces.

The “Dwelling in Reality” segment reflects stability and history, using red and white seal carvings that complement the HCAC’s black stone inkstone-inspired pavilions. The organic textures of the carved stones and their radiant red beams evoke the impression of a seal stamped onto the white xuan paper walls of the HCAC, integrating the building into the artwork and symbolizing the enduring cultural strength of calligraphy.

The “Roaming in Emptiness” segment expresses lightness and freedom through streamlined seal script forms. The use of neon light tubes represents the graceful ebb and flow of calligraphy in the natural world, akin to the aesthetic of the tranquil beauty of emptiness. The fusion of solid and void brings an ethereal vibrancy to the experience, leaving visitors with a profound impression of interconnectedness and vitality.

Writing the Landscape：A Light Show
Date: December 23,2024 to February 24,2025
Opening Hours: Everyday 17:30-22:00
Location: Exterior of the Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center (No. 100, Daren Rd., Dayuan Dist., Taoyuan, Taiwan)

Supervisors: Taoyuan City Government, Taoyuan City Council, Department of Cultural Affairs, Taoyuan City.
Organizers: Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts | Hengshan Calligraphy ArtCenter
Artists|Company: Ho Ching Chwang, Liu Ming-che, Hozen Studio, Digimax