The current double exhibition at the FNAC on Nanking East Road is something different from the typical rotation out of the FNAC Paris collection. Local store managers were given the authority and budget to commission their own exhibition, so they did. And if they haven't created something with the historical import of the Irving Penns and the Dorothea Langes that pass through, they have still done something pretty interesting -- yes, "pretty interesting." It's only a first try.
What's unique and what's good is that the show is half local. For a change a FNAC show takes on a special relevance to Taipei, this time by showing it through the lenses of the people who live here. Thirty framed photos (at the Nanking store -- another 30 are on display at the FNAC near the Taipei Train Station) came from the FNAC 24-hour Photo Marathon, which was open to the public for only NT$100 per entry and sent 70 teams out for a day and night of shutterbugging.
Many participants were young, and it showed in a good way. Award winners played with their subjects and their focus, sometimes both. In a couple of shots photographers put their hands into the picture frame to add some quirky emphasis to the Taipei ordinary -- framing a couple on a crosswalk or zooming in on the presidential palace tower. It was very fresh. There was also a strong eye for the graphic language of Taipei -- gas station signs, 7-11 stripes, security monitor screens, rear view mirrors, a TV kiss -- and the more common journalistic take -- a fry chef, a baby with a laptop computer, a kid with an armful of books. To see Taipei through the eyes of 16 talented amateur photographers is interesting, and that's what this exhibition achieved.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FNAC
But it could have achieved more. What's the point in only showing 60 pictures when, by having 70 teams shoot six rolls of film each, you've just commissioned more than 15,000? It's a decision that points to some confusion in the show's goals.
What it seems like is that FNAC Taiwan wanted to make an exhibition based on the principles of Lomography, a type of photography which, according to the Lomographic Society, has an "explicit aim: to study and document the world's surface by taking millions of snapshots of it." This comes out with the other half of the exhibit, Magic Hour, which consists of four rolls of film by four outsiders, all well-known fashion photographers from other countries: Norbert Schoerner, Marcus Tomlinson, Andreas Larsson and Justin Mullins. Each was given a Lomo, which in a more specific definition is a special, highly versatile type of point-and-shoot camera, and asked to shoot a roll of film with it.
The idea was for the Taiwan locals to embark on Lomography with their Nikons and Cannons while these four European professionals provide an example with their actual Lomos, which is actually pure cultural imperialism. But even more interesting than that, the idea came from the Taiwanese FNAC staff that was in charge of the exhibition. The idea got muddled because local photographers weren't allowed the democracy of the thousands of images that purist Lomoism ordains, and that the famous Europeans were only shooting a few frames, which isn't really Lomography either.
So the exhibition is a bit confused about what it's supposed to accomplish. But on the other hand, some of the pictures are pretty good. If you're on your way to shop for a new stereo, stop off for a few minutes and check it out.
What: FNAC 24-hour Photo Marathon and Magic Hour>
Where: FNAC, B1, 337 Nanking E. Rd. Sec. 3, Taipei (
When: until Jan. 5, 2003
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