The keyword is “mixed culture.” The “We TAIWAN” project conveying Taiwan’s reality – LIN Kun-Ying

From 2 to 20 August 2025, the project “We TAIWAN” unfolded in Osaka, showcasing Taiwan’s latest culture, art, and technology from diverse perspectives. Here at VS., an exhibition titled “Taiwan Spectrum” explored Taiwan’s nature, history, culture, and contemporary art through the lens of “color”. The curation was led by LIN Kun-Ying (林昆穎), an artist and creative director known for his work with the art unit “Luxury Logico.” We spoke with him about his aims for the project and the current state of Taiwan’s art scene.

Cultural Fusion Expressed Through “Color”:
What Are the Highlights of “Taiwan Spectrum”?

――The project took place across the entire city of Osaka, with VS. and the Nakanoshima area serving as its main venues. You curated the exhibition “Taiwan Spectrum” at VS. Could you tell us what kind of exhibition it was?

“We TAIWAN” is an event organized by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, presented under the theme “Supporting the Future, the Island of Miracles,” in alignment with the vision of the Osaka–Kansai Expo. Building on the success of the cultural program held in conjunction with the 2024 Paris Olympics, the initiative aimed once again to showcase Taiwanese culture in the region hosting the major international event.

Taiwan is a vibrant society where diverse cultures blend together. At VS., we expressed this by adopting “fusion of colors” as our main theme and developing it through three approaches: “seeing,” “touching,” and “hearing.”

The first experience, “Seeing,” unfolds at the visual theater “True Colors of Taiwan (台湾本色).” With the cooperation of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, over 100 paintings—from Taiwan’s historical masters to contemporary artists – were transformed into video projections and displayed on a large scale. This installation utilizes STUDIO A, VS.’s most distinctive space with its 15-meter-high ceiling. It offers an immersive experience, as if stepping into a painting, inviting visitors to experience how Taiwan’s mountains and seas, and the interplay of light and shadow, have been expressed through color in art.　　Furthermore, the projection screen employs a papery-textured material developed using the latest technology, faithfully recreating the appearance of the original painting.

The second experience, “Touching,” takes shape in “Lightwoven Nature (光織自然）.” The focus is on dyeing and weaving culture using natural dyes extracted from Taiwan’s diverse flora. Here, we welcomed textile artist CHEN Shing-Lin (陳景林). His work expresses the colors of Taiwan’s seas and mountains through dyeing and weaving. 　Alongside the large-scale shibori-dyed work “Mother River of Taiwan”, created with natural indigo, the exhibition also featured “Taiwan Color Spectrum,” which restores Taiwan’s traditional colors using natural dyes, based on his many years of research.

The third experience, the fantasy of sound and light “Island Soundscape (島嶼聲譜),” embodies “hearing” color. In Japanese, sounds are often described in terms of color, as in expressions like “voice color” and “tone color.” Taiwan is a lively country where many sounds blend together: the sounds of the mountains and the sea, and in the city, the constant hum of scooters, machinery, rain, and wind. Here, we created a space where sound and light intersect by merging a soundscape collaged from diverse sounds of Taiwan with an installation of mythical beasts inspired by Taiwan’s endemic species.

The “Hard, Hard” experience at STUDIO C is a work by Luxury Logico, previously exhibited several times in Taiwan. This time, it’s a Japan-Taiwan exchange version. Using landscapes from Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era as its motif, a single lamp travels around, telling various stories.

――As a curator, is there anything you were particularly conscious of?

As an international event representing Taiwan, participating in this is an honor for an artist.　 Other artists are also dedicating themselves with that same spirit, and all the exhibited works are new pieces. As a curator, my aim was not to present the pieces individually, but to create a single, large-scale composition in which works by various artists could be seen together, bringing diverse cultures into one unified whole.

Taiwan’s character excels at blending diverse cultures, environments, and perspectives. Our unit, Luxury Logico, also prioritizes hybrid production—such as connecting graphics to performance—rather than anchoring ourselves to a single genre. Artists with varied strengths collaborate, intricately interweaving their respective elements to create diverse expressions: technical art, architectural works, and more recently, mechanical works.

I myself was originally scheduled to participate as an artist for the first “True Colors of Taiwan” project alone, but somehow, through one thing and another, I ended up as the curator for the entire VS. venue… (laughs). It was my first time working as a curator in Japan, and it was truly challenging, but the more I visited, the more I grew to love Osaka. Osaka is a very bustling city, yet it holds quietness and tranquility within it. I was born and raised in eastern Taiwan, not a big metropolis but a lively port town, and there’s something about it that feels similar to Osaka. The food is delicious too.

“We need a space like VS.!”
The Current State of Taiwanese Media Art

――What were your impressions of using VS. this time?

VS. is a truly cutting-edge cultural apparatus. At this event, showcasing Taiwan’s most advanced technology was required, and in that regard, VS. enabled us to create a very futuristic exhibition. The concepts for the light and sound installations were only possible because of VS. Its location is also ideal. It is in the bustling heart of Umeda city, yet it retains a relaxed feel as being part of a park. This characteristic is similar to Taiwan itself. A small island in the Pacific Ocean, while also being a technical island possessing new technologies.

In Taiwan, especially over the past decade, blending art and pop culture has become a trend. Being a small island makes it easier for diverse cultures to mix. We are likely to see more large-scale art festivals in the future; however, despite having museums and art galleries, Taiwan currently lacks venues suitable for media art like VS. We feel there is a growing need for platforms to showcase this kind of new media in Taiwan as well, and that its potential is expanding.

――Is there a possibility that Luxury Logico or Mr. LIN yourself might hold an “exhibition at VS.” in the future?

Thank you for your thoughtful question.

Luxury Logico is holding its first solo exhibition this October, marking the 15th year of its artistic career. The theme is “Cosmic Garden.” Starting at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the exhibition will travel to the Taichung Opera House in April next year and the National Taiwan Science Education Center in November, with plans to expand not only within Taiwan but also overseas.

While installing the exhibition at VS. over the few days, I kept thinking about the potential for an exhibition at this venue. I’d be delighted to see you all here again soon.