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Taiwanese indigenous culture to be introduced in Austria and Hungary

  • Date:2022-05-19~2022-05-23
Taiwanese indigenous culture to be introduced in Austria and Hungary

To showcase the beauty of Taiwanese indigenous culture, an event revolving around the culture of the Tao indigenous community of Taiwan's outlying Orchid Island (Lanyu) will be launched at the Museum of the World, Vienna, Austria on May 20, and the second show will be held at the House of Music, Budapest, Hungary on May 23.

Based on the artistic research project "Creative (Mis)Understandings – Methodologies of Inspiration (創造性的(誤)理解 — 靈感的方法論)," the event is jointly organized by the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in Germany and World Museum Vienna.

The lineup for the event includes performances of traditional Tao song and dance, compositions and improvisations transforming the songs into various contemporary contexts in styles of rock, experimental, European art music, and others, complemented by sound and video installations. There will also be time for exchanges, meetings, and dialogues with the audience, creating a platform of sharing and encounters.

Katharine Chang (張小月), the Chief of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Austria, and Taiwan Representative to Hungary Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), will attend the two events separately and personally welcome the Tao elders from Orchid Island.

According to the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in Germany, the event combined the collections of historical recordings from Taiwan’s Academia Sinica and France’s Center for Research in Ethnomusicology (CREM), presenting the results of the collection of indigenous languages. Additionally, contemporary art was further integrated into the creations, showing the preservation and development of Taiwanese indigenous culture. The cultural division is also looking forward to building a deeper cultural exchange relationship between Taiwan and countries in Central and Eastern Europe through this event.

The "Creative (Mis)Understandings" project is based on a collaboration between poet-singers of the indigenous group Tao from Taiwan and composers and sound creators trained in the tradition of European Art Music. For more information about this event, please click here.