Open call: 5th Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennial Awards

The 5th Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennial Awards officially starts on April 15.

The Event Horizon Telescope published the very first photo of a black hole, which is 55 million light-years away from human beings. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau said “The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” If the black hole represents the infinite quality of the universe, then we see the creation of art as the practice and development of infinity.

The theme of this biennial awards is “Infinity.” We view art as an endless deepness and wideness, not abiding the limitations and restrictions of space and time. We hope that this open call allows artists to convey a continuous flow of thoughts in the language of sculpture, moving viewers from a limited world to one of infinite imagination, wherein reality has become illusion and vice versa.

Wu Bao-Tien, chairman of Lih Pao Group, said “Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennial Award has attracted works from five continents, 43 countries and over 700 artists. To support sculpture, the 5th Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennial Awards is scaled up this year with total awards of USD 70,000. All sculpture-based artists around the world are welcome to participate.” Wu Chiu-Hsiein, CEO of Lih Pao Cultural Arts Foundation, said “A black hole is just one of the places to find answers; we know there must be an infinite number of unknowns that will meet in the infinite world of art.”

The award is open for submission from April 15 to October 30, 2020. The materials should be suitable for long-term display as the finalists will be announced in January 2021 and winners to be announced in October 2021. A grand award ceremony will be held. As art helps us look past national boundaries, we have invited sculptors, critics and artists as judges, including sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor from the UK, sculptor Hatano Izumi from Japan, sculptors Han Hsu-Tung and Lai Chi-Man from Taiwan, and the famous art critic Hsiao Chong-Ray from Taiwan. Our international team of judges is strong, and will maintain the professional quality of the selected works.

For this edition, we also invited Netherlands Trade & Investment Office to expand the award's international vision. In addition, with the participations of academic units at home and abroad, including the Department of Sculpture, National Taiwan University of Arts, School of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts and Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, and with the cooperation of both industry and government, the message of the sculpture award will be distributed throughout the world, attracting artists from all walks of life.

Lih Pao Cultural Arts Foundation was founded by Lih Pao Group in 2003. With the spirit of corporate responsibility to give back to society and pass down local culture, the foundation is dedicated in the promotion of art and charity service. To cultivate young artists in Taiwan, the foundation organizes Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennial Award, Tsai Yun Forum, Tsai-Yun Gallery and scholarship for arts and charity in order to create a world of arts with “environment,” “architecture,” and “sculpture”. The encounter of cultural arts and architecture will build and develop a sustainable ecosystem for art in Taiwan, and allow cultural arts and enterprises to shine together and contribute to the country's artistic efforts.