In his solo exhibit Very Hard (很辛苦), Chou Yu-cheng (周育正) appropriates images from mass media to criticize how they are produced. According to Chou, the innumerable images that bombard our visual environment deserve further scrutiny. His photographs offer a different narrative on contemporary consumption.
■ Aki Gallery (也趣), 141 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路141號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2599-1171
■ Until Jan. 31
Saint Everything (眾物昇天) is a solo exhibit by Chen Wen-hsiang (陳文祥). In his digital images, Chen seeks to recreate drawings of artistic muses, such as Venus and Guanyin (觀音), to illustrate the universal nature of artistic creation.
■ La Chambre Art Gallery (小室藝廊), 31, Ln 52, Siwei Rd,
Taipei City (台北市四維路52巷31號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2700-3689
■ Until Jan. 31
Painter Shih Yi-shan (施懿珊) positions himself as a biologist studying nature to find deeper truths about human behavior in Once Human (聽說,我們曾經是人類). Shih’s delicate paintings of blooming flowers and vast seascapes offer much for reflective souls.
■ Galerie Grand Siecle (新苑藝術), 17, Alley 51, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段12巷51弄17號). Open Tuesdays
to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2578-5630
■ Until Feb. 11
Chen Yu-zhi (陳昱志) depicts completely nude men and women in various poses in his solo exhibition at Ping Pong (乒乓). Chen’s photo-realist paintings depict pairs of young Taiwanese who stare directly at the viewer in an almost confrontational show of sexuality.
■ Ping Pong (乒乓), 290, Zhongyang N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中央北路二段290號). Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2895-8883
■ Until Sunday
Tsai Hsien-yiu (蔡獻友) continues his examination of Taiwan’s environment with a new series of oil paintings at Kaohsiung City’s Show Gallery (小畫廊). The solo show depicts the richness and variety of the country’s flora.
■ Show Gallery (小畫廊), 166, Shizhong 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市市中一路166號). Open Thursdays to Mondays from 1pm to 7pm. Tel: (07) 215-0798
■ Until Feb. 11
Harmony Mask is a series of oil paintings by contemporary Lithuanian artist Sigitas Staniunas. Staniunas’ surreal paintings draw on a vocabulary of mythical figures placed in dreamlike landscapes.
■ Alot of People (一票人票畫空間), 63-1 Yongkang St, Taipei City (台北市永康街63-1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 2pm to 10pm. Tel (02) 2358-3713
■ Until Jan. 30
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not