Wandering at Craft Fair as a Way of Approaching Public Space in Taipei City
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Yen, Ning
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the process of place making by continuous ‘craft fairs’ held in fixed urban public spaces in Taipei. Craft fairs, fairs that gather art and handmade crafts and live band performances, have become new cultural events in recent three years. Unlike other papers and books explaining the creation process of craft artists and the icon meaning of the crafts, this paper tries to discover wandering experiences from different perspectives. By in-depth interviews with participants of craft fairs, including fair holders, craft artists and citizens, I would like to discuss the experiences of wandering in craft fairs and how the sensory experiences affect the sense of one place.o answer the main question: “how do craft fairs become a key role between participants and place when they take place in every festival in Taiwan?” firstly I choose three places of different space patterns and holders as my research field. Ku Lin craft and book fair, the prototype and very beginning of craft fairs in Taiwan, presents an example of old book street revitalization. Besides, it also points out the complex power competition among different organizations behind the craft fair. Eslite Bookstore, the cultural landmark of Taipei, held craft fairs as a stimulus to improve the sales volume of the bookstore. The activity ended when the sales goal was achieved; however, through craft fairs taking place on the square, the bookstore square has become a stage in urban space with vital public life. CAMPO leads a great fever of craft fairs successfully. After attracting lots of people to Cinema Park, it intensifies and represents its subculture with the image of Ximenting.econd, I intend to elaborate on the meaning of craft fairs through the participants’ behaviors and sensory experiences. Taking place in public spaces, craft fairs as cultural events, intermediate urban dwellers and urban public spaces. Being a competition field for heterogeneous participants, the meaning of craft fairs has changed constantly in the process of power struggling and decreasing. From the body experiences of visions, sounds, tactile impression, emotion and feeling of space, people construct images of craft fairs and urban landscape.astly, as newly hot cultural events, craft fairs reveal the lack of social public space in Taipei. Craft fairs have brought diverse possibilities to different participants: to government and capitalists, craft fairs are indicative of brilliant future for culture and creative industries and great business; to craft artists, craft fairs are a place to exhibit and share their new ideas; for people wandering in craft fairs, the fairs offer a way to approach public space and crowds. It is their open and public characteristics that craft fairs contribute to public life between urban people, society and environment.
Subjects
craft fair
public space
culture and creativity
wandering
sensory experience
Taipei City
Type
thesis
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