SDG11
"Digital Star Curtain" in Urban Daily Life: NCKU's First Technological Public Artwork "INK FLOW" Debuts on Linsen Road
National Cheng Kung University's (NCKU) latest public artwork, "INK FLOW", has been officially inaugurated. This piece marks NCKU's first permanently installed public artwork of the technological art genre, utilizing electronic paper (e-paper) labels to create a "digital star curtain" that shifts with the four seasons, imparting a distinctive dynamic sensibility to the street-corner showcase. Located at the corner of Section 2, Linsen Road and Lane 66, Section 3, Changrong Road in the East District of Tainan, the artwork breaks through campus boundaries due to its public location, becoming a shared landscape observed by the campus, community, and city alike.
On the afternoon of June 5, the NCKU Art Center held an inauguration ceremony for the public artwork "INK FLOW" at the intersection of the Tzu-Chiang Campus and Dong-Ning Campus. The event was widely attended by numerous guests, including Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, CEO Ju-Ming Wang, and Deputy CEO Ping-Ching Wu of the NCKU Research and Development Foundation (the building's donor organization); NCKU Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen, Deputy General Affairs Officer Ming-He Du, Head of Art Center Min-Yuan Ma, as well as Architect Yuan-Liang Tsai and the artist of this project, Wei-Shun Wang from WOOWOO Studio.
In her address, Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, the former president of NCKU and current chairperson of the NCKU Research and Development Foundation, emphasized that the value of a university lies not only in its hardware facilities but also in its existence as a space for "soul practice" and "connecting possibilities." She expressed that this building is the crystallization of collective efforts across several generations of NCKU members, aimed at deepening profound communication with the city and social stakeholders. The artistic creation of "INK FLOW" integrates knowledge from fields such as chemical engineering, digital technology, and material applications, embodying the cross-domain integration spirit and declaration of this building. Through the exploratory spirit of the artwork's theme, "gazing at the starry sky," it also implies that this site symbolizes the courage to persistently defend dreams in the face of change, as well as the capacity to define future possibilities. She expressed her expectation that this venue will continue to inspire dialogues both inside and outside the university, leading the foundation and the school to guide the public toward tomorrow with hope, backed by solid achievements of knowledge practice.
NCKU Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen sentimentally noted in her speech that the introduction of the public artwork "INK FLOW" has injected a profound soulful connotation and artistic inspiration into this multi-functional building, which brings together banking, AI research, and the R&D foundation. At the same time, through everyone's "spiritual convergence," this urban corner has become exceptionally bright, truly making "the impossible possible." The piece skillfully utilizes natural light and modern technology to display a fluid aesthetic of lines. This not only reflects NCKU's continuous efforts to break through academic and geographical boundaries via cross-disciplinary creativity and transform the East District into a major hub for culture and education, but also highlights local technological strength, as everything from research and development to manufacturing originates natively from Taiwan. When opening the public selection for the artwork, we chose "Tomorrow" as the theme, symbolizing the full vitality and hope of the sun rising from the east, wishing that this venue can lead the public to embrace dreams and courage to jointly welcome a better future.
WOOWOO Studio stated that since ancient times, gazing at the starry sky has been the starting point for humanity to explore the unknown and question the future. Using the "universe" as a metaphor, "INK FLOW" utilizes the dynamic display technology of e-paper to transform the movement of constellations and human aspirations for the future into a visual, perceptible, and participatory public art experience. In this project, the module composed of 550 e-paper labels and 308 PP boards resembles a digital star curtain. When viewed from a distance, the display shows the constellation of the current season based on the timeline. When observed closely, finer textual information can be seen, such as monthly horoscopes, daily fortune-telling, and star-whisper poems.
At the inauguration ceremony site, Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen, CEO Ju-Ming Wang, and Architect Yuan-Liang Tsai jointly cut the ribbon. The e-paper immediately commenced a black-and-white flashing for approximately 20 seconds. This is a phenomenon of e-paper electrophoresis technology where black and white particles are moved up and down through voltage changes to display images. The artist integrated this unique flashing transition effect of e-paper into the "universe" design concept, symbolizing the flashing rhythm of fixed stars, making each image transition a miniature display show akin to twinkling starlight.
Subsequently, the e-paper screen will replace images based on the constellation of the current season, displaying different visual themes of constellations as time progresses. On a daily basis, the display will rotate between two sets of images: the "main constellation map of the current month" and "public co-created artworks," switching automatically once every hour, allowing the screen to continuously change within the daily rhythm.
In an era of rapid technological change, "INK FLOW" attempts to respond to human imaginations of the future through public art. In the future, this "digital star curtain" located at the street corner will continue to be updated with time and seasons, accompanying people traveling between the campus and the city, encouraging them to look up at the starry sky again and imagine the future during their daily moments.
On the afternoon of June 5, the NCKU Art Center held an inauguration ceremony for the public artwork "INK FLOW" at the intersection of the Tzu-Chiang Campus and Dong-Ning Campus. The event was widely attended by numerous guests, including Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, CEO Ju-Ming Wang, and Deputy CEO Ping-Ching Wu of the NCKU Research and Development Foundation (the building's donor organization); NCKU Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen, Deputy General Affairs Officer Ming-He Du, Head of Art Center Min-Yuan Ma, as well as Architect Yuan-Liang Tsai and the artist of this project, Wei-Shun Wang from WOOWOO Studio.
In her address, Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, the former president of NCKU and current chairperson of the NCKU Research and Development Foundation, emphasized that the value of a university lies not only in its hardware facilities but also in its existence as a space for "soul practice" and "connecting possibilities." She expressed that this building is the crystallization of collective efforts across several generations of NCKU members, aimed at deepening profound communication with the city and social stakeholders. The artistic creation of "INK FLOW" integrates knowledge from fields such as chemical engineering, digital technology, and material applications, embodying the cross-domain integration spirit and declaration of this building. Through the exploratory spirit of the artwork's theme, "gazing at the starry sky," it also implies that this site symbolizes the courage to persistently defend dreams in the face of change, as well as the capacity to define future possibilities. She expressed her expectation that this venue will continue to inspire dialogues both inside and outside the university, leading the foundation and the school to guide the public toward tomorrow with hope, backed by solid achievements of knowledge practice.
NCKU Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen sentimentally noted in her speech that the introduction of the public artwork "INK FLOW" has injected a profound soulful connotation and artistic inspiration into this multi-functional building, which brings together banking, AI research, and the R&D foundation. At the same time, through everyone's "spiritual convergence," this urban corner has become exceptionally bright, truly making "the impossible possible." The piece skillfully utilizes natural light and modern technology to display a fluid aesthetic of lines. This not only reflects NCKU's continuous efforts to break through academic and geographical boundaries via cross-disciplinary creativity and transform the East District into a major hub for culture and education, but also highlights local technological strength, as everything from research and development to manufacturing originates natively from Taiwan. When opening the public selection for the artwork, we chose "Tomorrow" as the theme, symbolizing the full vitality and hope of the sun rising from the east, wishing that this venue can lead the public to embrace dreams and courage to jointly welcome a better future.
WOOWOO Studio stated that since ancient times, gazing at the starry sky has been the starting point for humanity to explore the unknown and question the future. Using the "universe" as a metaphor, "INK FLOW" utilizes the dynamic display technology of e-paper to transform the movement of constellations and human aspirations for the future into a visual, perceptible, and participatory public art experience. In this project, the module composed of 550 e-paper labels and 308 PP boards resembles a digital star curtain. When viewed from a distance, the display shows the constellation of the current season based on the timeline. When observed closely, finer textual information can be seen, such as monthly horoscopes, daily fortune-telling, and star-whisper poems.
At the inauguration ceremony site, Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen, CEO Ju-Ming Wang, and Architect Yuan-Liang Tsai jointly cut the ribbon. The e-paper immediately commenced a black-and-white flashing for approximately 20 seconds. This is a phenomenon of e-paper electrophoresis technology where black and white particles are moved up and down through voltage changes to display images. The artist integrated this unique flashing transition effect of e-paper into the "universe" design concept, symbolizing the flashing rhythm of fixed stars, making each image transition a miniature display show akin to twinkling starlight.
Subsequently, the e-paper screen will replace images based on the constellation of the current season, displaying different visual themes of constellations as time progresses. On a daily basis, the display will rotate between two sets of images: the "main constellation map of the current month" and "public co-created artworks," switching automatically once every hour, allowing the screen to continuously change within the daily rhythm.
In an era of rapid technological change, "INK FLOW" attempts to respond to human imaginations of the future through public art. In the future, this "digital star curtain" located at the street corner will continue to be updated with time and seasons, accompanying people traveling between the campus and the city, encouraging them to look up at the starry sky again and imagine the future during their daily moments.
NCKU's first permanently installed public artwork of the technological art genre, "INK FLOW", is located at the corner of Section 2, Linsen Road and Lane 66, Section 3, Changrong Road in the East District of Tainan.
On the afternoon of June 5, NCKU Art Center held an inauguration ceremony for the public artwork "INK FLOW" at the intersection of the Tzu-Chiang Campus and Dong-Ning Campus.
At the ceremony site, "INK FLOW" displays the NCKU school emblem and visual identity logo.
Address by Chairperson Huey-Jen Su, former president of NCKU and current chairperson of the NCKU Research and Development Foundation.
Address by NCKU Executive Vice President Yuh-Neu Chen.
Artwork introduction by the artist of this project, Wei-Shun Wang from WOOWOO Studio.
The e-paper screen will replace images based on the constellation of the current season, displaying different visual themes of constellations as time progresses.
"INK FLOW" will continue to be updated with time and seasons, accompanying people traveling between the campus and the city.
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