A new hotspot for Lantern Festival! After becoming the first state-owned business in Taiwan to win the Arts & Business Awards of Ministry of Culture based on its renovation of public arts in the open building space, Taiwan Power Company once again invited the designer of the main lantern of 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival, Mr. Shun-Long Lin, to design the public art object 《Saint Power》for Beitou Xiandu Ultra-High Voltage Substation. It will light up before Lantern Festival to become a new Facebook check-in landmark for hipsters and Internet celebrities.
Taiwan Power Company will organize the press conference for the presentation of public art object of Xiandu Ultra-High Voltage Substation in Beitou at 6 pm tonight (March 6). It will be witnessed by Chairman of Taiwan Power Company Wei-Fu Yang, artist Shun-Long Lin, curator Yao-Hua Su, Commissioner of Department of Urban Development of Taipei City Government Jing-Mao Huang, Taipei City Councilors Han-Ting Ho and Yu-Feng Huang, and residents of the community. Together they will start the lighting ceremony of this public art object 《Saint Power》 to add colorful lights and images to the dark night. Taiwan Power Company stated that, in addition to ensuring stable power supply for the entire nation, it also hopes to interact with residents in the neighborhood via friendly space renovation to become a major force making this city a better place.
The landscape art designer of《Saint Power》, Mr. Shun-Long Lin, is also the designer of main lantern “Guardian of the Forest – Tree of Light” of 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival. He was invited to the largest outdoor arts festival in the world －Echigo-Tsumari Art Field and Setouchi Triennale in Japan. According to Shun-Long Lin, the work was named using the homonym of Xiandu and Power. In addition, he was deeply inspired by the never-ending vitality of dandelion; therefore, he designed this《Saint Power》 to be a 22-m tall giant dandelion bud. It is to convey Taiwan Power Company’s corporate philosophy of taking care of both stable power supply and ecological sustainability by lighting up《Saint Power》.
Shun-Long Lin explained that the dandelion image of《Saint Power》is formed by colorful glass sphere and pleated-skirt shaped column. The column surface is covered by white metal baked paint, and the sphere is formed by polished stainless-steel discs. The light emitting sphere with a diameter of 5.5 m is created by colorful kiln-fired glass, and a temperature sensor is installed in this sphere. The LEDs can emit lights of seven colors (blue, green, cyan, yellow, orange, red, and purple) according to the change of temperature, thus making it an alternative real-time indicator of local temperature.
In addition, Taipei North District Office of Taiwan Power Company will be relocated next to Xiandu Substation, and Shun-Long Lin will also design the public art of 《Endless Treasure》 on the lawn. It is a stainless-steel sculpture in the shape of plants, combining public arts with ecology and technology. A full-color LED and sensors are installed within its inner space. French sound artist Yannick Dauby was invited to design the natural music for this artwork. When people get close to it, the sensors will be connected to the computer system to generate the sounds of great nature, such as birds chirping, insects humming, and rain dropping. In the future, the public may enjoy the natural music in this urban jungle.
Taiwan Power Company pointed out that Xiandu Substation was built in response to the power demands by MRT operation as well as the industrial, commercial, and economic development in Shihlin, Beitou, and Shipai. Joining with Taipei North District Office and Service Center, it becomes a multi-purpose building. It can supply power 2.2 billion kWh per year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption by 550,000 households for a whole year, providing residents in Shihlin and Beitou with high quality and sufficient electric power while relieving the pressure of power supply by Xizhi Ultra-High Voltage Substation.
《 Saint Power》 will light up from 7 pm to 10 pm every night, and there will be a colorful light show every hour on the hour. The public is welcome to check-in and watch the show.