The community of Wanhua (萬華) in Taipei's southwest sector, originally named Monga (艋舺) in Taiwanese and still so called by many locals, was the birth point of this city. The streets are infused with history—the narrow old thoroughfares, the temples, the heritage shops. Old-times are wrapped up in a blanket of the familiar, and travelers who've come from afar get a window into yesteryears. Now, however, within this old-feel setting something very new, very colorful, very modern, and very different has been created at 406 Plaza (406廣場), which is now inhabited by a gigantic six-story-high Transformer and a village of modern large-scale installation artworks.

406 Plaza is located at the corner of Zhonghua Road and Changsha Street. This was once the site of a Japanese Buddhist temple, Nishi Honganji Temple (西本願寺), built during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), a key site for worshipping Japanese nationals, overlooking and protecting Japanese soldiers, and also performing funeral rituals. Unfortunately, in 1975, the wood-built main halls and adjoining mausoleum went up in flames. Not until 2006, as part of a newly unveiled plan to protect heritage sites, did the Taipei City Govt. declare the surviving bell tower and meeting hall official city historical relics, formulating renovation plans designed to bring the spirit and as much of the physical presence of the original complex as possible back to life.

These renovations will begin at the end of February 2011, and before then, the city's Dept. of Cultural Affairs and the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei are using the site for a most unusual exhibition of public arts entitled ArtSupply, designed both to liven up the space and to draw public attention to the historical-relic preservation efforts going on here. Seven teams of creative artists, implementing the concept of“bringing art to public spaces,”have been given free reign to their youthful artistic visions. The most conspicuous work is undoubtedly the giant“Mayday's DNA”(變形DNA), a gold-colored Transformer created by popular musical band Mayday (五月天樂團). Another work created by a local musical group, the 13 Band (拾參樂團), is a graffiti creation with an in-your-face title,“Fat People”(吃胖的人).

Among the other works, all created by dynamic local contemporary artists:“Symphony of Light and Flower”(意外的風景—406號廣場幻想曲 ) by Onion Hsu (徐揚聰), an acrylic work with lanterns disguised as flowers;“Ripples of Forest”(森之漾), by Wang Zhen-wei (王振瑋), a landscape installation using driftwood pieces in great numbers; and“Flower KaGa”(卡卡．花), by Yeh Yi-li (葉怡利), a tremendously oversized bird-shaped inflatable sculpture. Whether sparkling in the sunlight or illuminating under the lighting design at night, enter this site and you enter a fairytale world of splendor. The 406 Plaza site, long locked in slumber, has been brought back to dazzling life with art, lit up with bright artistic visions harmonized with the history-hiding ruins and the park's green lawns.

The organizers have also dreamed up a series of attractive theme events to complement the artworks entitled“Urban Music Island”(都市樂島效應) that includes creative bazaars, art workshops, musical performances, food carnival, street-performer competition, and many more.