cheng-tsung feng translates chinese stitched binding into wooden installation in taipei

during the span of his short career, young taiwanese artist cheng tsung-feng has been exploring the wisdom condensed in time, hidden in traditional handcrafted culture. in his latest large-scale installation, the artist has taken inspiration from ancient chinese stitched binding, a technique developed from wrapped back binding in the sixteenth century.

created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of taipei’s eslite bookstore, reading, a bridge by cheng tsung-feng transforms the binding craft from a plane into a three-dimensional unit. installed over a pair of escalators, the canopy that seamlessly moves into the walls, features more than 1500 pieces, creating a transitional space just like a bridge and a tunnel.

‘the movement of the escalator is like a book and its turning pages,’ comments cheng tsung-feng. ‘when people open a book and start reading, their spirit and consciousness is moving and no longer staying. reading is like a bridge that allows us to travel through the past and the future, through reality and fiction, between different identities and around the world.’

project info:

organizer: the eslite corporation
brand curation hub: shu ching hsieh, nick wu, asta lee
space consultant: i ju huang
artist: cheng tsung feng
project designer: wei chun lin, chi yun chen
wooden structure: yumu manufacture & research(chien tung chen, zhong yi huang, chang feng li, jian wei yan, yu cheng shen)
lighting design: oude light(chien kuo ho, hao wei lin, yi chang chen)
project assistant: wei zhe huang, cheng wei chang, zhe wei zhang, fei mu wu
electric engineering: wei wang hydropower engineering
video editor: chieh wei cho
music: jun hak lee