The public art work "Echo of Dagang" won the 10th Public Art Award of the Ministry of Culture - Art Creation Award

"Echo of Dagang" is installed next to the Second Dagang Bridge, using musical bells to respond to the transformation of Penglai Commercial Port in Kaohsiung. (Picture provided by Stacker Library)

The public art work "Echo of Dagang" in the Kaohsiung Pier 2 Art Zone uses a musical bronze bell to respond to the transformation of Kaohsiung's Penglai Commercial Port. It competed with 77 other works and won the "10th Public Art Award - Artistic Creation Award" of the Ministry of Culture.

The "Echo of the Dagang" installed next to the Pier 2 Dagang Bridge was invested by the Taiwan Port Corporation in 2020 at a cost of NT$55.12 million. It was planned and designed by Hou Qingmou and Lin Wanzhen (HOUxLIN design studio HOUxLIN) through an open competition. The entire set of works includes a swing bell weighing more than 680 kilograms, 37 copper bells, 23-meter-deep pile foundations, steel structures, and scaffolding made with yacht and shipbuilding technology.

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"Echo of the Grand Harbor" is based on a bronze ship time-telling bell, integrating the imagery of a crane's giant arm and a bamboo basket, transforming the past industrial dock into an urban stage with a human scale. The musical bronze bell (carillon) was designed by the Dutch Royal Made by Eijsbouts Centennial Musical Bronze Bell Factory, it was started in Asten in March 2020. Chen Xinxin, the then Ambassador to the Taipei Office of the Netherlands, cast a copper plate to start the furnace and smelt it. After completion, it was packed into cabinets and shipped to Taiwan. It was officially opened on January 26, 2022 during the epidemic, becoming a new base for resting, listening to bells, and holding concerts on Pier 2.

Lin Wanzhen once said in an interview that the Pier 2 Pier was once a major banana export port in Asia. The golden scaffolding is based on the image of the pier cranes in the 1950s lifting bamboo baskets containing bananas. Kaohsiung is a major steel industry town, and some steel structures symbolize the city's transformation and inheritance. She hopes that the sound of the time will bring the "pier bell" back to life and lead more people to approach the pier.

The entire set of works "Echoes of Dagang" includes a swing bell weighing more than 680 kilograms, 37 bronze bells, 23-meter-deep pile foundations, steel structures, and scaffolding made with yacht and shipbuilding technology. (Picture provided by Stacker Library)

The public art work "Echo of Dagang" in the Kaohsiung Pier-2 Art Zone won the "10th Public Art Award - Artistic Creation Award" from the Ministry of Culture. (Picture provided by Stacker Library)