Since 2018, BIAS has developed and implemented an urban festival to help Daxi township preparing for the key religious ceremony of the place. Usually, Taiwanese ceremonies are conservative and based on rural traditions that dictate a strict set of rules. To share the charm of folk beliefs with the urban public, BIAS mediated the traditions by a strategic set of design interventions and activities that provide a pop-culture vibe to the event. In particular, BIAS acted as curator and invited various young artists and designers to cooperate with those that preserve old traditions.
BIAS Architects & Associates was established by Han Ju Chen, Chen Jung Liu, and Alessandro Martinelli in 2013. BIAS is interested in public space and identity design where, by uniting spaces and programs, aims at fostering cultural awareness. It is constituted by professional curators, European and Taiwanese practicing architects.
The client is the Department of Culture Affairs of the City Government, Taoyuan, i.e., a special municipality in Northwestern Taiwan, neighboring the capital Taipei. The city has the fastest population growth of all cities in Taiwan and is home to the main international airport of the island, besides many industrial parks and high-tech company headquarters.