NTU and the Beyond: Events in Celebration of NTU 90th Anniversary

In celebration of NTU’s 90th anniversary, the Center for the Arts collaborated with the Experimental Forest to present a series of events themed “NTU and the Beyond,” including an exhibition that opened at the Agricultural Exhibition Hall on November 15, several music performances, and an anniversary concert at the Odeum on November 16.

“NTU and the Beyond” is a continuation of the wood furniture exhibition, “In the Woods We Live,” jointly organized by the Center for the Arts and the Experimental Forest in 2012. In the exhibition and the concerts, we focus instead on another major type of campus landscapes at NTU—the forests in the Experimental Forest that stretch across Lugu, Shuili, and Xinyi at Nantou Country in central Taiwan. The forests are not only where students conduct internships and ecological research, but also an inspiration for a wide variety of artistic creation, inventions, and scientific observations.

The Experimental Forest, formerly the affiliated experimental forest in Taiwan under the Faculty of Agriculture at Tokyo Imperial University, involves great geographical and biological diversity. Due to its vastness, the forest epitomizes the vertical distribution of forests in Taiwan and provides the best location for research, education, and practicums, accommodating 5,000 NTU students on average every year.

The Forest Campus Exhibition, held at the Agricultural Exhibition Hall on the main campus, presents stories, images, products, and crafts from the mountains. Artist Poki Chang (張博智) was invited to design a spatial installation in the Odeum, combining visual projection and sounds to introduce the image of water, light, and fog in the forest, where the audience can immerse themselves while listening to the music at the concerts.

Situated in Taipei, the NTU main campus is likened to a forested park in the city, verdant with tens of thousands of trees. Ascending to the top of a tall building, one will find an open view of the lush campus in the Taipei Basin surrounded by mountains. While celebrating NTU’s 90th anniversary, we hope everyone visiting the campus can feel inspired and enlightened by nature.