2023 Guandu International Nature Art Festival

Guandu Nature Park is calling for three artists with a focus on the human-nature relationship to participate in the 2023 Guandu International Nature Art Festival entitled ‘Nature, a Gift - Connection, Giving, and Exchange’. Selected artists will spend around four weeks as artists-in-residence in Guandu Nature Park and use natural or environmentally friendly materials to create artworks on-site that can convey environmental messages and raise awareness.

As the main outlet of the Taipei Basin’s water system, the Guandu Plain is a wetland that contains many biological activities and serves as a flood detention area to protect the safety of the Taipei metropolitan area. From early agricultural activities to urban development, industrial pollution, garbage crises, global warming and climate change, rising sea levels, and the decline of biodiversity, the Guandu Plain is almost a microcosm of the entire environmental issue. However, through the establishment of a conservation area, it has been transformed into a gift. Therefore, life is sustained and evolved through the gift of nature.

This year’s curatorial theme for the Guandu International Nature Art Festival, ‘Nature, a Gift - Connection, Giving, and Exchange’, is conceived as a gift to the Guandu Plain. Artists are invited to respond to this theme through their artistic creations.

The format of creation is unrestricted and may include interdisciplinary contemporary art, visual art, installation art, etc. The use of natural materials is preferred for media, and the creative process must comply with environmentally friendly principles. The works created should convey the values of habitat creation and biodiversity, the connections between the ecology, birds, and human interactions surrounding Guandu, and should trigger awareness of ecological conservation. The creative concept and presentation of the works should emphasise their artistic nature.

The residency period will run from 9 August 2023 – 11 September 2023, with artworks exhibited from 10 September – 31 December 2023.

Support provided by the festival includes an artist’s fee of NTD$ 80,000 (~2400 EUR), round-trip airfare (economy), accommodation, and materials support. Group application is allowed. However, the organiser will offer the same funding as for individuals.

Deadline: June 30, 2023.