Embroidered Swallows · NTU Hospital

A narrow brass line circles a pale, rounded form in the grass. The terrazzo holds little flecks of stone; trees cast their shadows over it. Chiu Cheng-Hung's Embroidered Swallows # NTUH gives pieces of Taipei's old city wall a rather elegant retirement beside a hospital chimney.

The hospital preserved fragments of the wall that enclosed Taipei in 1884. After the wall was dismantled, its stones found new jobs in public buildings and infrastructure, including the hospital's boundary walls. Chiu mixed fragments with cement and minerals, using the familiar terrazzo technique and inlaying brass lines.

Those rounded forms also come from losses. Chiu collected the shapes of damaged architectural details and garden sculptures around the hospital's West Site, then enlarged them through 3D printing. The work's Chinese name, 繡燕, comes from his grandmother. A small missing piece becomes something large enough to notice from the street.

Find the group on the inside of the Zhongshan South Road pavement, in front of the old boiler house beside the Health Building. The boiler house and chimney belonged to the hospital's steam infrastructure; the building dates to 1921. Come in daylight to look at the stone and brass.

The public-art programme pairs the sculptures with music by 王榆鈞, 透光尺度, available for online listening through the project page.