When history is no longer just words in textbooks, but is re-experienced through the body, sound, and action, art becomes a way of understanding the world.

On May 17th, the work "Hoping for Your Early Return" was performed at the Kaohsiung Cijin War and Peace Memorial Park's main exhibition hall and surrounding coastal environment. Combining grassy slopes, sea breezes, and landscape, the performance led the audience into a sensory experience where history and the present intertwined. The work is set against the backdrop of Taiwanese boy soldiers conscripted by the Japanese Empire at the end of the Pacific War, connecting with the life experiences of contemporary youth. Through cross-temporal juxtaposition, it rethinks war, youth, and memory.

This creation is a project by Associate Professor Tsai Pei-kuei of the Teacher Training University, part of the "Interdisciplinary Aesthetic Education Excellence Leading Project." It combines the "2026 Embankment Star 2.0 Invitational Exhibition: The Shaping Power of Repetition and Non-Repetition in Art" project with the invitation from the Kaohsiung Municipal Museum of History. Using art and interdisciplinary aesthetic education, the project revitalizes the "Ke Qihua Former Residence" and the "War and Peace Memorial Park Theme Hall," bringing together artists, teachers, graduate students, and high school students in a collaborative creation. Taroko performing arts artist Yu En-en, Atayal performing arts artist Hsu Chih-wen, music teacher Yang Ching-yi from Hsiung High School, and artist Chang Chun-shuo also participated, incorporating historical themes into the high school elective course "Playing with Sound Together," bringing historical issues into the body, sound, and action.

The performance uses aluminum foil blankets as its core image, which rustle like waves in the sea breeze, symbolizing both the displacement caused by war and the brilliance of youth and life. The team also invited students from Hsiung Feng High School to participate in the creation process, hoping that through intergenerational collaboration, historical memories could be rediscovered and continued by the new generation. Hsiung Feng High School students Chang Che-jui and Wu Yi-che not only participated in the performance but also personally wrote the letters featured in the performance, becoming the core of the creative process.

After the performance, many audience members shared their profound feedback. One student from Hsiung Feng High School mentioned that while watching the scene of children playing on the beach, he suddenly realized that the peace we take for granted today was once a dream unattainable for children on the battlefield. Some young audience members also sensed the transformation between "fear" and "freedom" through abstract physical movements. These delicate and insightful responses demonstrate the most precious power of interdisciplinary aesthetic education—making art a means of emotional learning, an important medium for understanding history, perceiving the world, and cultivating empathy.