The Ministry of Culture will stage an exhibition dubbed "Market, Youth & Field" from May 16 to 19 at Taipei's Huashan 1914 Creative Park in an effort to inspire more young Taiwanese youths to take part in the Ministry's initiatives for rejuvenating local communities.
The exhibition will present 20 inspiring cases underscoring youths with great passion and ideals who have returned to their hometowns and settled down to empower local communities and tackle social issues associated with their hometowns.
To spur the development of local communities, the Ministry has rolled out subsidies based on different regional groups and community features. So far, over 300 projects have been implemented under three major initiatives targeting youths, collaboration between youths and senior citizens, and indigenous tribes. With these implemented cases, more momentum has been gathered for innovative, community-driven change across Taiwan.
This year, the Ministry has curated the "Market, Youth & Field" exhibition in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and ZA Share Youth (雜學青) in the hope that the results of the implemented projects would inspire more people from all sectors of society to take part in and learn more about community development projects.
The site of the exhibition will be decorated as a traditional Taiwanese wet market, which is closely connected to people's daily lives, to suggest that the wide assortment of food ingredients feeding different people and nourishing each individual can best represent Taiwan's inclusive nature and embracement of diversity.
The exhibition will host 20 exhibitors taking up booths in six themed sections: "seafood and produce," "Taiwanese snacks and regional specialties," "barbershop," "indigenous grocery store," "the market administrative committee," and "garment alternations, repairs, and zipper replacement services."
The booths are designed to immerse exhibitiongoers in the familiar scenes, contents, and stories associated with a wet market, in hopes of helping them become reacquainted with the humanistic landscapes of their hometowns and awaken their memories of the wonderful things and challenging issues in their communities that are worthy of their concerns.
‘Market, Youth & Field’
Curatorial Statement
Youth—representing youthful enthusiasm, creativity, and action, is the actor of social innovation.
Field—representing young people deeply rooted in this land, practicing self-realization, sifting through local culture, building local knowledge, linking physical communities and interconnecting social groups, as well as constructing their own local cultural life.
Market—representing the rich and diverse matrix of this land Taiwan, replete with foods from all over the world that can satisfy everyone's dietary needs. It has nourishment for every living being, is a repository of collective memory, and displays the characteristics of diversity and tolerance. As young people develop the capability of civic action, practice self-realization, and both preserve and innovate cultural development, they also bring about changes in community tribes and enrich the diversity of this matrix culture.