Fresh art in different places

And this is one issue that many artists notice. They see that their communities can assimilate vast changes while retaining the core of their traditional roots. So this then leaves us with a great question: How do we define ourselves and our realities? by our modernities or by our traditions?

So viewer, your mission if you choose to accept it, is run, don't walk to the biennial and firmly believe that it will help expose you to new ways of looking at our world. Please do not go there with the old idea that art must be the result of genius craftsmanship and aesthetics. Engagement with the real world is something we all urgently need and especially now!

WHAT: 2004 Taipei Biennial "Do You Believe in Reality?"

WHEN: Oct. 23, 2004 until Jan. 23, 2005

TIME: 9:30am to 5:30pm, Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays)

WHERE: Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 3, Taipei (臺北市中山北路3段181號)

TELEPHONE: (02) 2595 7656

Taiwan's top biennial artists:

1. Chen Chieh-jen (陳界仁), a very vocal and active artist in the Taiwan art community is collaborating with Chinese architect Chang Yung-ho (張永和). Chen's capacity is more like a curator and he has chosen 17 provocative Taiwanese documentary films that will be projected in Chang's camera-like structures. Chen will also screen his riveting 30-minute film The Factory.

2. Kuo I-chen is still a student, so it is a rare honor that he can participate in a biennial. In keeping with the reality theme, his work will technically link the outside world -- where planes landing at Sungshan airport -- with the quiet interior of the museum and is a work that will happen in real time.

3. Tsui Kuang-yu gained a reputation for putting himself in danger, like the early pioneers of video performance art. Using his body as a tool to confront physical dangers such as running into a buffalo or into a plate-glass window speaks metaphorical volumes about the perils of living a basic life. Here he will show a video where he changes identities with each set of clothes he dons.

4. Lin Hongjohn's (林宏璋) video installation Uncle Chen includes sci-fi films and the CNN reports of Lin's uncle who founded a UFO cult based in Texas, soon after Heaven's Gate and the Koresh/Waco standoff. The funniest part of the project is unseen, as the family thinks Uncle Chen is running a legitimate business while the artist son is perceived as being involved in more dodgy esoteric territory.

5. Treasure Hill is a ramshackle place nestling the river near Taida, home to both retiring KMT soldiers and to artists in residence. Photographers Yeh Wei-li and Liu Ho-jang have documented the residents and visitors since last April in exchange for drinking tea. Their huge photos made for take-home posters are on display. They are a window to an unnoticed part of Taipei -- a reality unseen.