With each passing season, the new season brings about new hope and cheer. Summer brings about the heat as well, but certainly with a good dose of gaiety and fun!

So while the heat and humidity of summer drives us to seek cool comfort, we open our arms wide to the radiating positivity of the summer season. Nowhere is this positivity more accentuated than in the colorful Very Fun Park, which once again in its 2013 edition, is set to saturate Taipei’s East District.

As if by tacit agreement, the Very Fun Park portends the summer mood in Taipei’s East District. Summer is the season when students revel in their holidays, and is the season when graduates embark on the first stage of their careers. It is also the season when holiday-makers converge in the heart of Taipei, and definitely the season when the Very Fun Park brings fascinating contemporary art to the masses.

Now into its eight edition, we are especially heartened by how the Very Fun Park has seeped into the consciousness of the local community. It is by no means an easy process, often requiring the exchanging of countless ideas before a concept comes to fruition. In the two and a half months that the Very Fun Park will be held, we hope the viewing public will take away the same enthrallment that we have. We hope as well, that this appeal from the arts, will inculcate and promote a lifestyle with the arts as a core.

The editions of the Very Fun Park owe it success to the passion and positive attitudes of the Fubon Art Foundation colleagues. Very often, what appears to be a mere dream is wondrously manifested into a finished product. The unison of all to broaden and realize the ideas stemming from a few, highlights the harmony necessary to achieve success. Harmony is an amalgamation of many supporting parts. Harmony also in essence, does not imply settling for compromises. Harmony is much more – it is an acceptance of different voices, ideas and attitudes, culminating in a final output that resonates with the pride of many.

The Very Fun Park may appear to some to be art works in competition with one another. That cannot be further from the truth. In actuality, the art works are like players in a symphonic orchestra, each bringing to the fore a talent to create harmonious music.

For the 2013 edition of the Very Fun Park, there are in total 30 different exhibition sites. In other words, it is an expansive art museum in the heart of the city. I trust that the theme “Harmony” will resound loudly through the city. The Very Fun Park will be a platform for all the parties involved - from the artists to the local businesses; from the curatorial team to the general public – to collectively embed the arts into the fabric of Taipei City.

The preparations for the Very Fun Park 2013 have taken more than six months. As we finally launch the 8th edition of the Very Fun Park, I expect the signature pink banners to inspire both joy and wonder. Let us all share in the harmonious mix of beauty and goodness the Very Fun Park brings about!

*image (left)
Octopied Building
Nylon and Electric Fan
© Filthy Luker

Courtesy of Fubon Art Foundation