cheng tsung feng introduces bamboo installation in taiwan
At the historic Wenwu Temple in Lukang, Changhua, artist Cheng Tsung Feng completes Theatre, a vast bamboo installation that reinterprets the disappearing tradition of temporary opera stages once central to Taiwanese temple festivals. Built from thousands of interlaced poles, the work stands as a contemporary architectural structure and a living reminder of a cultural form that once defined community gatherings but is now seldom seen.
Theatre takes inspiration from bamboo stages that, until recent decades, were rapidly erected for opera performances and temple celebrations across Taiwan. Feng’s structure echoes this ephemerality while translating it into an experiential space. The framework is composed of a strict vertical-horizontal grid of bamboo lengths, softened by split bamboo strips that trace sweeping arcs across the facade and ground plan.
images courtesy of Cheng Tsung Feng
audience Becomes PerformeR in theater’s Stage of Light
Visitors are invited to step inside the Taiwanese artist’s installation by climbing bamboo stairways that lead to the broad central platform. Once within, they are enveloped by the transparent grid, where light filters through the slatted walls and floors, and the tactility of bamboo comes to the fore. In the daytime, the stage becomes a resting ground, a place to gather or to play. By night, lit by glowing festival lamps, the installation transforms into a ceremonial space that recalls the atmosphere of traditional opera performances with their color, spectacle, and sense of shared ritual.
As people move through Theatre, they oscillate between the roles of audience and performer, embodying the cyclical exchange at the heart of theater itself. Feng’s project situates memory within lived experience, animating tradition through participation. Standing before the centuries-old Wenwu Temple, the bamboo theater draws in festival visitors and passersby, offering them a space to rest, play, or perform.
Cheng Tsung Feng completes Theatre in Taiwan
a vast bamboo installation that reinterprets the disappearing tradition of temporary opera stages
built from thousands of interlaced poles
the work stands as a contemporary architectural structure
the framework is composed of a strict vertical-horizontal grid of bamboo lengths
split bamboo strips trace sweeping arcs across the facade and ground plan
visitors are invited to step inside the installation by climbing bamboo stairways
the stairs lead to the broad central platform
light filters through the slatted walls and floors
the tactility of bamboo comes to the fore
the stage becomes a resting ground, a place to gather or to play
by night, lit by glowing festival lamps, the installation transforms into a ceremonial space
recalling the atmosphere of traditional opera performances
project info:
name: Theatre
artist: Cheng Tsung Feng
location: Lukang, Changhua, Taiwan
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edited by: thomai tsimpou | designboom
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