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Eastern culture gets an avant-garde injection

PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI ARTS FESTIVAL

Organized under the theme of "Oriental Avant-garde" the 7th Taipei Arts Festival (第七屆臺北藝術節), which started this week, is packed with

novel and experimental works of art, sculpture, music, seminars and drama.

Sponsored by the Taipei City Government's Department of Cultural Affairs, the festival aims to remind members of the public that the forces of

Western modernism should not be allowed to devalue or degrade Eastern traditions.

Most of the festival's activities will take place at Zhongshan Hall, Da'an Park amphitheater or Lungshan Temple Park and many are free.

"All the programs we have developed will center round an intelligent combination of traditional elements in a contemporary format ... When modernity was transmitted to the East it brought with it a modernist way of artistic creation. Traditional art was considered inferior. It's time for us to reevaluate the potential of traditional art," said Taipei Cultural Affairs Bureau Director Liao Hsien-hao (廖咸浩).

The festival's diverse program includes dance performances such as Asima, which means "beyond the boundaries" in Sanskrit, from

Southern India; music by the An-Chang Project from Okinawa led by Jun Yasuba; street parades; concerts that marry rock music and Chinese opera and huun huur tu throat singing and music from

Mongolia.

The festival will draw to a finish after a closing performance on Oct. 30 at Da'an Park's amphitheater. For some events tickets are required, for others you need to register. Events will run until the end of October.

"The `Oriental Avant-garde' theme will also be used for following years' festivals. If a citizen wants the city to be unique, with a special kind of attraction then the city has to go back to its cultural essence," Liao said.

Web site at www.tpeart.org.tw.
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