Last week, faculty and students from the International College of Innovation visited the “Night Dreams” exhibition at the 2024 Treasure Hill Light Festival. Among the exhibits was a sound animation picture book titled “There’s a Little River in Front of My House,” which is an experimental project from the “Design for Social Innovation” advanced course offered by the college. It was displayed in a small wooden house by the Treasure Hill riverbank.
In this practical course, Taiwanese and international students not only developed cross-cultural teamwork, curation, and creation skills but also built friendships with residents of the Treasure Hill community through participation in community activities. Following the exhibition of last semester’s (112-1) course projects, the interactive works of the students unexpectedly received a lot of positive feedback. The Treasure Hill Light Festival served as the first experimental project for this advanced course. The location of the exhibit was a standing wooden house by the Treasure Hill riverbank. The creation of this house and its interior projection animation was a collaborative effort involving the ICI Social Innovation Practical Course, the National Taiwan University Civil Engineering Practical Course, the Treasure Hill Cultural Village Association, and members of the Treasure Hill International Art Village.
The sound animation picture book “There’s a Little River in Front of My House” integrates the creative achievements of the previous two courses, including the establishment of a community image database, environmental sound collection database, and the creation of virtual letters. In the participatory “Self-Building Experiment Field” led by NTU Civil Engineering, visitors could see the figures of the original residents and hear local stories. This aimed to highlight the visibility of community residents’ participation in preserving community vitality, especially in the face of the touristification of informal settlements and the decline of original community residents.
Last week, Assistant Professor CHEN, HUNG-YING of the International College of Innovation led faculty and students to witness the brilliance of the exhibition and explained the creative process and context of each exhibit. Students who created “There’s a Little River in Front of My House” also elaborated on their creative concepts and attempts, impressing everyone with their creativity and the completeness of their works, highlighting the potential and possibilities of social innovation.
The Treasure Hill Light Festival will continue until May 5th this year. The International College of Innovation sincerely invites you to visit the sound animation picture book works in the “Self-Building Experiment Field.” Let’s discuss this extraordinary teaching experiment together.
