In 1990 Kenbo Liao (廖褚健) saw a magazine article that mentioned his film The Great Ivory Wall (象牙牆), an animated short that won a Golden Harvest (金穗獎) award. He noticed that the second character in his name been changed to zuo (左), which means "left" or "lefty." Thinking there had been a mistake, he went to the Chinese Taipei Film Archive (國家電影資料館) and asked to see the movie. A woman at the counter told him they didn't have it; the reel had been destroyed in a fire. "She said I could see any other movie but that one," Liao told the Taipei Times on Thursday. "Somebody must hate me very much in order to bury me alive!"
Kenbo Liao's Life Works, Visions, Fantasies or Prophecies? - a retrospective that runs through Oct. 27 at Beat Studio - is a reminder of how much things have changed since then. When Liao produced The Great Ivory Wall, which features two cavemen who fight over boundaries and build a massive wall from mastodon tusks, Taiwan was still under martial law, and his cartoon was considered groundbreaking because it mixed politics with art. Another short, Sketch Book (畫冊), was produced on a Commodore Amiga computer and earned him a second Golden Harvest award because it was the only digital submission that year.
Liao, a US-trained moviemaker and designer who also produces still images for postcards and advertisements, believes art can influence politics. One of his favorite prints, inspired by a vision he had after suffering a head injury in a car accident, shows a paper airplane flying over a primordial Taiwanese landscape. Also inspired by that vision is a weirdly prophetic print of a Japanese biplane dropping a bomb on New York's World Trade Center.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF KENBO LIAO
Visitors to the gallery can purchase reproductions of these and other once-subversive images on framed canvases and T-shirts. Liao will be present at the show's opening, which has been rescheduled for today because of last weekend's typhoon. Two of his films will be screened, and Hoklo poet Chen Chao-cheng (陳昭誠) will read several of his works.
Liao, 56, became less controversial after martial law was lifted. In the early 1990s he filmed Unknown Taiwan, an English-language documentary produced by now-Vice President Anette Lu (呂秀蓮), who used another of his images for presentations in Europe to support Taiwan's UN bid. The animator has yet to succeed in correcting his name in official records of his first Golden Harvest award. "The government is changing a lot of names now," he said. "I think they should change mine first."
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF KENBO LIAO
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach. “Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on international affairs tells the Taipei Times, adding that Taiwan may become more cautious in its dealings with South Korea going forward. Taipei has called on Seoul to correct its electronic entry system, which currently lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan),” warning that reciprocal measures may follow if the wording is not changed before March 31. As of yesterday,
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
RSS