Running for three months, the festival embraces three guiding concepts—Fluidity, Symbiosis, and Evolution—challenging us to rethink the relationship between art, nature, and campus life.

Rethinking Art Through “Relational Aesthetics”

The curatorial framework draws on French curator Nicolas Bourriaud’s concept of Relational Aesthetics, which views art not as an isolated creation but as an act of social encounter—a process of “being together” and generating shared meaning.

“This festival is not meant to be a static exhibition,” said Professor Pei-Hsien Hsu, Director of TDIS, Chair of the Taiwan Bamboo Society, and Director of NYCU Graduate Institute of Architecture. “It is about co-living, co-creating, and co-sensing. Through the interactions of the creative process, art enters daily life, and the environment itself becomes an active participant in creation.”

Rather than traditional gallery halls, the festival takes place directly in campus spaces. From credit-bearing micro-courses to interdisciplinary workshops and improvisational performances, students and faculty are co-authors of the works, blurring the line between life and art.

Prof. Hsu emphasizes that every piece is made from sustainable materials, designed to evoke a sense of time, memory, and relationship, while responding to both the landscape and daily life.

Three Core Concepts: Fluidity, Symbiosis, Evolution

The festival is built around three philosophical keywords: Fluidity, Symbiosis, and Evolution. Together, they explore the ever-shifting relationship between technology and humanity.

As philosopher Andy Clark famously noted, humans are “natural-born cyborgs”—our brains are inherently capable of coupling with non-biological tools. This coupling reshapes not only our cognition but also our very definition of “subjectivity,” forming hybrid beings that evolve in constant dialogue with technology, environment, and community.

From this perspective, the campus itself is a living organism: weathered by time, reshaped by climate, and re-enlivened by art. The Bamboo Festival becomes a laboratory for dialogue between people and materials, technology and nature, memory and place—embodying NYCU’s Sustainability Month theme of circular regeneration.

From Weaving to Improvisation: Art in the Making


At the Rolling Pavilion, Prof. Mitch Lin (Graduate Institute of Music) and his students opened the festival with an outdoor jazz improvisation performance, echoing through bamboo structures.

This year’s artists span disciplines and geographies, united by the idea of “resonating with campus and materials”:

All creative processes are open for observation, with final works to be showcased across November and December.

Campus as Exhibition, Art as Everyday Life

Running through December, the 2025 NYCU Bamboo Festival features on-site installations, outdoor sound experiments, interactive pieces, faculty-student workshops, and culminating performances.

It is more than a series of events—it is a long-term experiment in imagination and relationships. “Turning the campus into a circular landscape” and “allowing humans and art to evolve together” are not abstract slogans, but living practices unfolding every day.

At NYCU, during Sustainability Month, art is no longer just about objects. It becomes an extension of life, a reinterpretation of the everyday.


The Rolling Pavilion, designed by Assoc. Prof. Ling-Li Tseng of NYCU Graduate Institute of Architecture is itself a symbol of “art as everyday life.” Built in 2024, the bamboo structure now serves as a multi-purpose platform for exhibitions, gatherings, and performances—transforming meaning as it evolves with the community.