Several cultural events have been planned in Taiwan for over the Labor Day weekend, both online and in the real world, as organizers contemplate appropriate ways to stay connected with audiences amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) in the southern city opened on Friday a month-long exhibition titled "Eureka! 2.0 Rediscovering Weiwuying," which uses text, images, videos and performance props to convey the idea that "life is theater."
According to Weiwuying, the event showcases the four-year collaboration between the Kaohsiung venue and the Prague Quadrennial of stage design. It will also include free outdoor performances on the afternoons of May 8 and 9.
Weiwuying General and Artistic Director Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) told CNA Thursday that it has a vast covered outdoor space for events and has seen a slow increase of visitors since last weekend.
Meanwhile, the second of six weekly concerts being performed by the Kaohsiung Chinese Orchestra this week is set to go online at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, on the venue's YouTube channel, which will be available free for three months.
Another group set to put on weekly online performances dubbed "Infinite Concert" is Taoyuan-based Wind Sound Ensemble, which has planned five pre-recorded concerts, playing music from various movies, on its YouTube channel starting Friday at 8 p.m.
Although the concerts will be free and will stay online indefinitely, the group said Friday that people are welcome to buy tickets through the National Theater and Concert Hall ticketing system as a way of offering financial support.
The group said it has had to cancel 12 performances and postpone one through July. Ticket sales for the online events had recorded around 10 transactions in 24 hours as of press time, according to the ticketing site.
In Taipei, the Zhongshan Hall near the Ximen MRT station will hold the final event of its 2020 Square Music Festival. The outdoor event, which is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, will be headlined by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra said space between the players on stage and stools prepared for the audience will be kept within social distancing guidelines, and there will be staff holding signs to remind people to wear face masks and keep an appropriate distance from each other.
According to the guidelines, people without masks should keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other indoors or one meter outdoors, although this is not mandatory for those wearing masks.