As I sat on a wooden bench wondering whether it had been a good idea to order a bowl of over-sized Luotung stuffed tapioca balls (羅東包心粉圓), a local specialty, I heard the plaintive cry of a nearby vendor: “Popcorn, pig’s blood, ice cream!” The theme park had definitely got the eclecticism of Taiwan right. Above the snack area where I was doing my best with the tapioca balls, is the Big Fisherman Guoyan Restaurant (大漁翁國宴美食主題館), which specializes in traditional Ilan cuisine [see the review on Page 15 of tomorrow’s Taipei Times].
For something more seriously cultural, it was necessary to go across to Scholar Huang’s Residence (黃舉人宅) on a grassy island that divides the Inland Waterway from the Dongshan River (冬山河). This house, which was relocated here stone by stone, is a wonderful example of a traditional domestic residence, but unfortunately, little has been done to give it the same appeal as the shops of Folk Art Boulevard. The exhibits inside are a bit drab, and in the spirit of the theme park, the courtyard just called out for some sort of teahouse to be set up there. Here was serious culture, but the commercial pop versions across the way seemed to be doing much better at bringing in the punters.
The Center’s Exhibition Hall, currently featuring an exhibition titled Nurtured in Tradition: Value-Added With Design (傳統文化藝術加值設計暨授權展), showed what is being done to commercialize Taiwanese culture in luxury designer goods. In the hushed space of the beautifully appointed museum, a small number of interesting designs were crowded out by gaudy and excessively crafted items. To my mind, they compared poorly in terms of interest to the cheap Transformer action figures and plastic whistles that cluttered the grocery store. The exhibition runs until April 19.
With its mix of high culture and kitsch, luxury items and cheap trash, of nostalgia for a rustic past and a reawakening of ambitions for an ecologically aware future, there is a lot going on at the National Center for Traditional Arts. The things on offer are certainly not unique, but the center has done a remarkable job in bringing them all together in an easily digestible package. VIEW THIS PAGE
RSS