BIAS Architects and Associates Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Daxi Daxi Local Culture Festival in Event and Happening Design

BIAS Architects and Associates acknowledged for event and happening design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Event and Happening Design category for Daxi Daxi Local Culture Festival by BIAS Architects and Associates, designed for Taoyuan City Government, Department of Cultural Affairs, & Daxi Ecomuseum. The result belongs to the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

The Silver A' Design Award Explained

The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.

Regarding Daxi Daxi Local Culture Festival

Since 2018, BIAS has developed and implemented an urban festival to help Daxi township preparing for the key religious ceremony of the place. Usually, Taiwanese ceremonies are conservative and based on rural traditions that dictate a strict set of rules. To share the charm of folk beliefs with the urban public, BIAS mediated the traditions by a strategic set of design interventions and activities that provide a pop-culture vibe to the event. In particular, BIAS acted as curator and invited various young artists and designers to cooperate with those that preserve old traditions.

About BIAS Architects and Associates

BIAS Architects & Associates was established by Han Ju Chen, Chen Jung Liu, and Alessandro Martinelli in 2013. BIAS is interested in public space and identity design where, by uniting spaces and programs, aims at fostering cultural awareness. It is constituted by professional curators, European and Taiwanese practicing architects.

Award Record

BIAS Architects and Associates is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.

About the A' Event and Happening Design Award

The A' Event Design Award is an international event design competition recognizing good event designs by leading event designers and organizers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to event designers, corporate event planners, wedding planners and festival organizers from all countries. Entries typically include trade fairs, award ceremonies, festivals, conferences, exhibitions and concerts. Awarded event designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/event

About A' Design Award & Competition

A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/123023
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/123023
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!123023
Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/303676
Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.biasarchitects.com/202daxidaxi-guangingonline

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project: Daxi Daxi Local Culture Festival
Function: Local Culture Festival
Category: Event and Happening Design
Discipline: Service Design
Industry: Branding & Advertising and Arts
Colors: Black, Midnight Blue and Dark Slate Gray
Images: 5
Client: Taoyuan City Government, Department of Cultural Affairs, & Daxi Ecomuseum

The Recognition

Laureate: BIAS Architects and Associates
Country: Taiwan (China)
Recognition: Silver A' Design Award
Edition: 2020 - 2021
Design ID: #123023

Credits

Team: BIAS Architects & Associates
Image Credits: Photographer Yu Dong, 2019; Photographer Yu Dong, 2020; Photographer Jia-Ying Yang, 2019; Photographer Yu Dong, 2018; Photographer Jia-Ying Yang, 2018

Design Details

Unique Properties: Lord Guan's birthday celebration is an important traditional event held in the rural outskirts of Taipei. The local people call it "the second Chinese New Year for Daxi," and everyone in the township of Daxi uses to put significant effort into the preparations. Tasked to preserve and promote the event, since 2018, BIAS has developed and implemented an urban festival to help the township preparing for the celebration.
Inspiration: Usually, Taiwanese religious ceremonies are conservative and based on rural traditions that strictly dictate parade rules. To share the charm of the folk beliefs with the urban public, BIAS tried to mediate the ancient traditions by a strategic set of design interventions and educational activities that could provide a contemporary pop culture vibe to the festival.
Research: The research was developed on various aspects, including the following. First of all, it was developed a deep understanding of ancient rituals and those people that carry on the traditions today. Then, it was developed curatorial research on a set of artists and designers that could develop a dialogue and thus intervene in the strategic renewal of traditions. Finally, mediatory research was implemented in order to help the community and the designers collaborate for the good end.
Challenge: The key challenge of the project was at the curatorial level. In particular, it was the selection of third-party artists and designers that could dialogue with those today bringing forward the ancient traditions. Not only but also, it was to create proper occasions for the encounter of these seemingly opposite actors.
Realization and Technology: The main concept of Daxi Daxi is to combine traditions and pop culture so as to both rejuvenate the audience of Taiwanese religious festivals and deepen the understanding of these by the young generations. In order to achieve this, a curatorial approach was adopted, focused on selecting a series of young artists and designers that could cooperate with those holding the traditions. Most importantly, the artists, designers, and the holders of traditions were supported by BIAS that mediated their cooperation so as to ease their efforts and bring it to a good end. That is to say, BIAS initiated their encounter and acted as a facilitator and translator of their different point of view.
Operation and Interaction: The key aspects of the festival are to be found in the mixing of various aspects of the traditional parade rules and preparations with popo-culture and aesthetics. In particular, while the traditional aspects were not obliterated or negated in their functionality, touches of a new aesthetics were added and communicated to the large public as the product of a new pride of the local community.
Project Duration and Location: The event starts in mid-July and finishes in mid-August each year since 2018 in Daxi, Taiwan. The last installment was held in 2020.
Specifications: Total event area: 121,000 sqm
Keywords: festival, traditional rural culture, urban pop culture, religion, parade, design as mediation, curating