Activities that combine imaginative design with boosting awareness of environmental protection are at the heart of the Taipei Children’s Art Festival, which kicked off July 1.
The city’s Wanhua District is hosting an event that features everything from installation art and quilt-making using second-hand clothes to the construction of model houses from discarded materials such as iron pots and scaffolding.
A visiting team of designers from Catalonia in Spain used abandoned bicycles and old garbage bins to create educational devices in the shape of crabs, penguins and pigs.
Equally eye-catching were beach and ocean collages made by the Taiwan Environment Information Center from 40,000 recycled bottle caps. The group’s display included unsightly items like drinking straws, fishing nets and plastic bags to raise awareness of sea pollution among visitors.
Also designed to boost ecological sensitivity was a project using paper pulp and scrap paper to create fairytale characters and forests. Besides having a lot of fun, participating children learned about how paper is recycled and the dangers of deforestation.
Running till Aug. 3, the festival additionally features screenings of animated movies dealing with ecological conservation in the district, as well as six outdoor performances of aboriginal ballads, Taiwan folk drama and traditional West African music at Da-an Forest and Dahu parks.
