Q & A Yen-Ting Cho: Commission for T3 Taoyuan Airport, Taiwan

Art & DesignPublic Art CommissionsContemporary Taiwanese Art
Written By Sofia Bertilsson


‘The work needs to be open, accessible and meaningful, even to someone who glimpses it for just a few seconds,” says Yen-Ting Cho when considering the challenge of public art in the transient space of an airport.

Yen-Ting Cho from YEN TING CHO Studio talks about the commission for a monumental public artwork at the new Terminal 3 at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan, being installed in autumn 2025. ‘Gateway to Taiwan: Island Tales' merges traditional heritage and contemporary tech, and is inspired by Taiwan’s natural and urban landscapes, culture and industry.

We imagined the airport journey as a kind of Möbius strip: continuous, cyclical, and unending,’ says Yen-Ting Cho about the ideas behind the work.

‘We use digital tools to turn the stories we want to tell into abstract visual forms. Each element is designed to possess or suggest multiple meanings.’

Artist and designer Yen-Ting Cho.
Credit: Han Yueh Liang.

‘We started the project with field research, exploring different regions in Taiwan and discussing their unique geographic, social, cultural, religious and other environmental features,’ says Yen-Ting Cho about the process YEN TING CHO Studio used to develop the artwork. 

 

Q & A Yen-Ting Cho

 

How did you come up with the idea behind Gateway to Taiwan: Island Tales?

The idea emerged from our reflections on the airport departure hall as a symbolic space, one that pivots between arriving, leaving and returning. We imagined the airport journey as a kind of Möbius strip: continuous, cyclical, and unending. The seven artworks are conceived with this sense of looping continuity, each representing a distinct facet of contemporary Taiwan. Together, they echo both the anticipation of departure and the warmth of arrival and return, hopefully capturing to some extent the emotional aspect of travel.

Detail of 'Shifting Shoreline', the first of seven monumental artworks by YEN TING CHO Studio to be installed at Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan, September 2025. Photographer: HAN YUEH LIANG.

When did you get the commission to do a public art installation for the new terminal of Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan?

This project was awarded to my Studio through a public tender process. After nearly a year of intensive revisions, negotiations, meetings and ongoing dialogue with relevant government departments, we signed a contract in spring 2025. It was a long process, involving many partners and stakeholders, which actually mirrors the complexity of this large-scale project.

This installation is 300 meters long. Is it the biggest art work that you and the studio have made?

It is not the largest work we have created (we recently designed the exterior of a massive industrial building),
but it is the longest public artwork we have created to date. 

What will people see and experience at the airport terminal?

People won’t be able to see the entire work from a single viewpoint, because the space has columns, moving walkways, and other architectural elements that partially obscure the view. So, instead of designing for a fixed perspective, we focused on creating a sense of movement and flow.

Artist Yen-Ting Cho inspects the first artwork to be installed at the new Terminal 3 building at Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan, September 2025. Photographer: HAN YUEH LIANG.

Depending on where people are situated in the terminal building, the experience will be different. If someone is on a
moving walkway and passing very close to the work, just 15 to 30 centimeters away, they will glimpse parts of the artwork. The image might not make complete sense at the time, but I hope it leaves a trace, a memory of color, movement, texture.

If someone is sitting near a gate or walking a distance from the artworks, they will get a sense of the rhythm and flow of the piece as a whole. So, even while people are waiting to board a flight, the terminal space won’t feel static or boring;
hopefully, the artwork becomes part of the journey.
QR codes will enable people to see all of the artworks,
or revisit them later.

How is it to work inside the new Terminal 3 designed by Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners?

We’ve only had a few chances to step inside the terminal to date because it is under construction, but it is already clear that the space emphasizes the integration of people, technology, and architecture. This aligns closely with our own approach: we want the artwork to respond to the terminal’s scale, the flow of movement of people, and enhance the quality of the environment.

We primarily use translation and layered symbolism. Instead of relying on literal or figurative icons, we use digital tools to turn the stories we want to tell into abstract visual forms. Each element is designed to possess or suggest multiple meanings.

This allows different audiences to find their own way into the work. Even if they don’t catch every reference, they can still form an impression of modern Taiwan and, we hope, connect with both the artwork and this fascinating island nation in their own way on their own terms.

Artist Yen-Ting Cho examines the installation of the first artwork from 'Gateway to Taiwan: Island Tales' with members of the project committee at Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan, September 2025. Photographer: HAN YUEH LIANG.

How do you connect Taiwan heritage with the digital world of today?

We primarily use translation and layered symbolism. Instead of relying on literal or figurative icons, we use digital tools to turn the stories we want to tell into abstract visual forms. Each element is designed to possess or suggest multiple meanings.

This allows different audiences to find their own way into the work. Even if they don’t catch every reference, they can still form an impression of modern Taiwan and, we hope, connect with both the artwork and this fascinating island nation in their own way on their own terms.


Could you tell us something about your background and your studio?

I have an interdisciplinary background, having originally trained as an architect and later moving into interactive design, and then digital art, animation, practice-led research, and software development. Because of this, our Studio tends not to focus on simply making visuals, but on really exploring the core of each work or project.

I see visual language as something that can adapt to different media and contexts. Whether it’s an artwork, a spatial installation, or a digital experience, I and my Studio aim to translate each concept into the medium that has the most resonance.

YEN TING CHO Studio, Gateway To Taiwan: Island Tales, 2025, No.5 Golden Voyage T3 Rendering. © YEN TING CHO Studio


About YEN TING CHO Studio

Founded in London in 2016, YEN TING CHO Studio produces unique artworks, installations and contemporary design. In 2025, the Studio installs its largest ever public commission, Gateway to Taiwan: Island Tales at the new Terminal 3 building at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan. Recent major commissions and installations include A Surge: Digital Art Facade, 2025, public art installation for Ally Logistic Property (ALP), Taoyuan Meishi (Red Dot 2025 Design Concept Winner); Future Matsu Wave Song / Traces, 2024, installation, National Science and Technology Council, Taipei; Dancing Wunsian's History, Culture and Landscape, 2023, public art installation for Wunsian Elementary School, Tainan City; Dancing Door Gods, 2021, video and performance, National Universiade, Tainan City.

The Studio creates innovative and dynamic art and design through human-computer co-creation that pays homage to place and to local heritage. The distinct patterns of installations and design are crafted using bespoke digital technology pioneered by company founder and lead designer, Yen-Ting Cho. Using the 'mov.i.see’ original software, the cross-disciplinary team in the Studio manipulates curated data (photos, videos) into original patterns, and radically plays with their structure and colour to create a signature aesthetic that transcends the boundaries between art and design.

Apart from art installations and public art, editions and design products by YEN TING CHO Studio are sold in galleries, boutiques, concept stores, museum shops and design outlets around the world. The studio has won many prestigious international art and design awards. YEN TING CHO Studio is based in Taipei, Taiwan (with a studio and public gallery) and in London, UK (studio). www.yentingchostudio.com

About Yen-Ting Cho

Yen-Ting Cho is a designer, artist, educator and researcher. He directs YEN TING CHO Studio (London and Taipei), a digital design studio and consultancy, and is also Professor in the Institute of Creative Industries Design, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. He is an expert in cross-disciplinary research, focusing on architecture, interactive and media design, and animation. He has a PhD in Innovative Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art, London, and a MDes from Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD).

Yen-Ting Cho has designed interactions for Microsoft Surface, GSD and the Guggenheim Museum, New York. Exhibitions include Camden Art Centre, Manchester Science Festival, Siggraph Asia, ACMM, Taiwan Design Expo 2022, and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. His designs have won numerous international awards, including 2022 Muse Design Platinum and 2020 IDA Design Gold. His work is regularly featured in international art-design press, including Design Magazine, Mot Times, Taipei Times, DFUN, 90+10.

yentingchostudio.com

Documentary filmmaker Han Yueh Liang prepares to capture the first artwork by YEN TING CHO to be installed at Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan, September 2025. Photographer: HAN YUEH LIANG.

Sofia Bertilsson https://www.artinsiderpr.com
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