Taipei City Government

     Many people have memories of doodling in their textbooks, and these dots and lines may, like cartoon characters, take us to a world of wonder. The Taipei City Youth Development Office (TCYD) promotes youth arts and culture education, encourages young people to pursue and develop their interests, and creates opportunities for dialogue between youth and artists through specialized exhibitions and expert demonstrations to stimulate arts appreciation and creativity. From 9:00 to 17:00 between January 21 and March 3, 2019, TCYD will hold an exhibition titled “Textbook Doodles: The Stop-Motion Animation of Zhang Shuman.” Zhang, a.k.a. Monster Chang, has long been involved with youth education, and believes that cartoons are a great way for young people to tell their stories. 
     Zhang serves as editor of the “Kids as Directors” program at the Taiwan International Children’s Film Festival, director at Anima Animation Studio, and member of the international children's Animation Workshop Group (AWG) of the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (ASIFA). At home, she is a caring mother; at work, she becomes an animator and a teacher for children animation. In all these roles, children are her leitmotif. Zhang is good at expressing life experiences in cartoons through characters and scenes that tell stories. From concept to creation, cartoons require patience and observation, which Zhang applies to collage animations, sand animations, food animations, and grid animations, which require 15 frames to create one second of animation. Patience indeed! Visitors will have the opportunity to experience this and more at the exhibition.
     This exhibition features a visual play area, where visitors can browse through notebooks and swing rotating animation boxes, as well as an animation demonstration area with Japanese anime and American animation. Visitors will also be able to observe the production process of three-dimensional animated characters, as well as semi-finished characters. There will also be movie screenings and animation DIY workshops. In addition, four workshops will be given during the exhibition for young people to develop their imagination and tell their stories by shooting their own stop-motion animation shorts.
     The exhibition will run from Monday January 21 through Sunday March 3, 2019 at the Youth Art and Culture Salon (5F, No. 17, Sec. 1, Renai Road, Taipei City). For further detail, please visit the TCYD website at http://www.tcyd.gov.taipei/. The exhibition is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00 and admission is free of charge. (Note: Venue closed during CNY holiday from Feb. 3 through 8)