There are several art exhibitions by young artists that are worth seeing in Taipei this weekend. The Taipei Artist Village may be an unfamiliar place to many readers because it is not as well known as the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, but this creative haven nestled away in a quiet little area near Taipei Main Station is a hotbed of multi-cultural activity.
It is an interdisciplinary artist residency -- something like a hotel for visual artists, dancers, writers and others from all over the world to stay in for several months in order to create new works and to interact with Taiwan. The Taipei Artist Village brings an international flavor to the already cosmopolitan art scene of Taipei. If you haven't been there yet, now is a good time to visit, as there is a group exhibition of its visiting artists that runs until August 14. Entitled Art Diary, the show features Patrick Palucki, Hung I-ching (
German mixed-media artist Patrick Palucki does experimental short film and video installations and has won many awards for his work, which deals with the phenomena of the consciousness and the psyche. He combines science, semiotics and autopoiesis, and is inspired by living in multicultural communities around the world.
Hung I-ching (
Spanish artist Alba Navas Salmer and Japanese artist Ayumi Matsuzaka work together on public art projects, but they use a conceptual artist's sensibility. They emphasize working with the people of the community and having the art truly connect with the public.
Australian Sandra Tobias shows her whimsical and colorful paintings that depict the chaotic and frenetic pace of city life. Her recent work shows life in the cramped urban space of Hong Kong. After that taste of international cosmopolitanism, you may want to experience the complex flavors of Taiwanese performance art. Opening on the 23rd is a summer series entitled Carefree -- Taiwan Performance Art Relay, which runs until Sept. 17 at the Taipei MOMA Gallery and is curated by the prominent artist, curator and writer Yao Jui-chung.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE TAIPEI ARTIST VILLAGE
Exhibition Notes:
What: Artist Diary
Where: Taipei Artist Village, 7, Beiping E Rd, Taipei (台北市北平東路7號)
Tel: (02) 3393 7377
When: Mon and Sun, 10am to 6pm, until August 14
What: Taipei MOMA Gallery
Where: 3F, No.19 Lane 252, Tun-Hua S Road Sec 1, Taipei (台北市大安區敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓)
Tel: (02)8771 3372
Web site: www.taipeimoma.com
When: Tue to Sat, 11am to 7pm
What: Kuo Hui-Chan's (郭慧禪) "Mimicry" and Ho Hsin's (何佳) "Writing Imagery Father Jai"
Where:Shin Leh Yuan Art Space 104, Chung-Shan N Road, Sec 2, Lane 11, No 15-2, Taipei (新樂園藝術空間,台北市中山北路二段11巷15之2號1樓)
Tel: (02)2561 1548
When: Wed to Sun, 1pm to 8pm
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
Australia’s ABC last week published a piece on the recall campaign. The article emphasized the divisions in Taiwanese society and blamed the recall for worsening them. It quotes a supporter of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as saying “I’m 43 years old, born and raised here, and I’ve never seen the country this divided in my entire life.” Apparently, as an adult, she slept through the post-election violence in 2000 and 2004 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the veiled coup threats by the military when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became president, the 2006 Red Shirt protests against him ginned up by
As with most of northern Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) settlements, the village of Arunothai was only given a Thai name once the Thai government began in the 1970s to assert control over the border region and initiate a decades-long process of political integration. The village’s original name, bestowed by its Yunnanese founders when they first settled the valley in the late 1960s, was a Chinese name, Dagudi (大谷地), which literally translates as “a place for threshing rice.” At that time, these village founders did not know how permanent their settlement would be. Most of Arunothai’s first generation were soldiers
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.