Taichung World Flora Exposition

Paperwindmill joined Taichung City as they hosted their first National Day Parade in 2017 in anticipation of the 2018 Taichung World Flower Expo. With the adorable Leopard Cat Family and their neighbor Horsiver set to be mascots for the Flower Expo and both the Parade and Expo promoting a spirit of protecting the environment and developing sustainability, the Paperwindmill team designed and produced a large-scale float of creative, artistic, and literary merit based on the theme of Celebrating 2017 with the Leopard Cat. The float was 19 meters long and five meters high at its peak and coordinated with the Flower Expo mascots, making the float a celebration of both events.

The float was hand-painted in a style similar to oil painting, with one delicate stroke after another slowly revealing the agile form and magnificent fur of the leopard cat. The float team wove story into their creation. The leopard cat mother led the float and had eyes that blinked and a head that could nod, while Horsiver trailed behind and the two naughty leopard cat cubs, little paws waving up and down, played tricks on their visiting neighbor, whose mouth opened and closed in humorous surprise.

The team also infused imagery of Taichung flowers, such as local orchids, lilies, and flamingo flowers, into the float, and incorporated the elements of the Flower Expo logo, including green leaves, orange flowers, and blue, streaming water, around the four sides, creating a colorful impression while spreading the message that Flowers Stand for GNP (Green, Nature, People).

2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition

From the National Day Parades, World Games, Kaohsiung World Games, New Year’s Celebrations, Taiwan has hosted its share of large events, and they seem pretty much the same, with the same setting and same flat stage. This is mostly a budget consideration. For the opening ceremony of the Taichung World Flower Expo, Paperwindmill gathered a group of young stage designers, stage directors, and lighting designers to incorporate perspectives from around the world to create an innovative visual experience the likes of which Taiwan had never seen. The result, The Shape of Art, was a living installation art piece in the form of a stage 72 meters wide, and 8 stories high built with natural materials and using objects with lively lines and organic shapes.

The stage design included elements evoking flowers marketed from Taichung, local cultural and literary attractions, the Flower Expo logo, and Taiwan’s unique flora and fauna. Atop the stage there was an entrance and elevator and a massive LED wall, able to spatially immerse audiences in the performance scenes and bring them closer to the action.

Flowers were the stars of the opening ceremony performance, and over 90 minutes, a 1,000 performers took the audience on a journey through the relationships between humans, emotions, and flowers over the span of 140 million years. Among 8 scenes, including Glacial Era Taiwan, Four Great Civilizations, Gifts from Taiwan to the World, and Innovative Connections in a New Taichung, Welcome to Taichung was the liveliest, showcasing more than 300 of the top parade formation performers from around Taiwan presenting acts like the Eight Generals and the Officers (the military component of temple ceremony parades), Twelve Grandmothers, Deity Palanquin, and Lion Dance troupes, Beiguan musicians, the Dajia Mazu Shao Jiao Troupe, and the Electric-Techno Neon Gods, to enthusiastically welcome international guests in the style of Taiwanese temple fairs.

A further 40 folk arts performance troupes were invited from five regions of the world, including countries such as Czechoslovakia from Europe, Mexico from the Americas, Indonesia from Asia, Guam from the Pacific, and indigenous arts troupes local to Taichung to share sights from their respective national holiday celebrations. The result was nearly 30,000 people mesmerized amidst the dazzling swirl of the flower world performances.