Under the theme of Resonance Island, the 2022 Creative Expo Taiwan created a cultural whirlwind over its 10-day exhibition period. Through both physical and virtual channels, the event was able to drive tourism in surrounding areas and generate an output of over $1 billion TWD. The two main section and six venues of Kaohsiung Action attracted over 500 000 visitors, effectively demonstrating the vitality of Taiwan’s cultural and creative industry in the post-pandemic age. 

Lighting up new venues to synergize Taiwan’s cultural power

For the first time, Creative Expo Taiwan was hosted in the port city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, where the two main venues, Kaohsiung Music Center and Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, were linked by the light rail. The culture display that opened on 5 August at Kaohsiung Music Center immediately attracted over 100,000 visitors over the first three days. The subsequent trade show featured over 500 exhibitors from 14 countries around the world. 

The 10-day expo also organized nearly 200 events, including forums and seminars, working closely with the Kaohsiung City Government to launch exciting activities around Kaohsiung Action, including the release of six historical spaces, 30 design tours and installations of six popular LINE sticker IPs by local illustrators of Kaohsiung at Love River Bay.

The Creative Expo Taiwan showcases creativity and vitality in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Interdisciplinary curatorial team worked to create the event’s cultural landscape

This year, architect and veteran curator Kung Shu-chang served as the event’s chief curatorial consultant, and Luxury Logico co-founder Lin Kun-yin served as the chief curator. They joined other curators to plan themed pavilions Round-Island Arena, Hotel Archipelago, and Formosa Ice Shop, two city pavilions Chiayi and Matsu, as well as the Craft pavilion. The trade show was curated by Yin Li and presented Formosa Select Shop, a curatorial area that featured the spotlight products of this year’s expo. Through the cooperation of diverse disciplines, including design, video, performing art, technology-based installation, craft, food, beverages, and editing, the expo enabled attendees to explore the cultural vitality of the island.

New business opportunities created via both online and offline channels 

The trade show at Kaohsiung Exhibition Center gathered creative and licensing sections in one place for the first time. The show attracted an unprecedented number of visitors and businesses and received rave responses from visiting citizens. 

As part of the event, Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture also collaborated with Pinkoi, Asia’s biggest design e-commerce platform, to launch the 2022 CET area, as well as an all-new online business platform CET+, to showcase over 8000 products participating in the expo. Through both online and offline integration, new opportunities were explored for Taiwan’s cultural and creative brands. By combining innovative strategy with the joint effort of curators and participants, the 2022 Creative Expo Taiwan once again achieved outstanding results. Looking ahead, organizers of the event will continue to build on this foundation and carry out interdisciplinary integration to support local brands and Taiwan’s cultural landscape. 

A cultural performance during the Creative Expo Taiwan