New Taipei City Art Museum anniversary: 800 people recycle plastic to co-create solar flight device

(Central News Agency reporter Huang Hsu-sheng, New Taipei City, 25th) The New Taipei City Art Museum celebrated its first anniversary today by launching the "Solar Flying Museum" lift-off experimental action. The museum stated that it invited nearly 800 citizens to co-create a solar flying device using recycled plastics to practice the concept of sustainability and highlight the museum's role as a city cultural node.

The New Taipei City Art Museum stated today that the "Solar Flying Museum" is an extension project of the international exhibition "Tomás Saraceno: Webs of Life." It uses art to respond to energy and environmental issues. The device is collaged from recycled plastic bags and uses solar thermal energy to generate buoyancy for lift-off, requiring no fossil fuels, symbolizing imagination for future life.

The museum stated that this project has been promoted in many places around the world. This time, it was transformed into a local co-creation action in New Taipei to strengthen the connection between art and the city. In 2026, 26 workshops were held, linking 8 schools and 6 community groups, and combining with Lunar New Year activities, attracting nearly 800 people to participate.

Participants spanned different ages and backgrounds. Through cutting, collaging, and painting, discarded plastics were transformed into creative media, presenting natural imagery and life memories, while also responding to environmental issues. The works eventually converged into a large-scale flying device, demonstrating the power of collective creation and public participation.

The New Taipei City Art Museum marks the first anniversary of its opening and operation on the 25th. The Cultural Affairs Bureau held anniversary activities in the outdoor park of the art museum today and on the 26th, gathering special delicacies and cultural and creative brands to create a double feast market for hearing and taste. In addition, the concert event today featured multiple singers and the New Taipei City Symphony Orchestra in a cross-over co-performance, blending pop melodies with strings to weave a richly layered musical feast.

The New Taipei Art Museum issued a press release stating that since its opening in April 2025, it has focused on research and collection, exhibition curation, educational promotion, public participation, and sustainable operation, hoping to build an art platform that is "based locally and connects internationally." The cumulative number of visitors has exceeded 1.8 million.

The recent exhibition "Cotton Threads and Stones" focuses on the historical development of textiles and mining in the New Taipei area, while the international special exhibition "Tomás Saraceno: Webs of Life" connects science and ecological thinking through art to respond to contemporary sustainability issues. The two exhibitions start from local industrial memory and global issues respectively, growing and continuing to dialogue with citizens. (Editor: Chen Jen-hua) 1150425