After seeing his model for the installation last month, I was surprised to find that some of the ropes he installed at the Biennial fall onto a bent metal signpost that reads “Taiwan Contemporary Art Museum.” There is no such place. Many artists complain that Taiwan’s museums — especially in the capital, and specifically the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) — don’t pay enough attention to the country’s artists.
“I wanted a contrast between soft and hard,” Tsong said when I asked him about the augmented work last week.
But what about the fact Taiwanese artists are relegated to the museum’s smaller galleries downstairs while Chinese artists Fang Lijun (方力鈞), Cai Guo-qiang (蔡國強) and Ai Weiwei (艾未未) get large exhibitions at TFAM? Was his work a comment on that?
I expected he’d avoid the question as the powerful TFAM defines who’s who in Taiwan’s art world and has several of Tsong’s paintings in its collection. But he didn’t hesitate.
“Yes,” he said.
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