Polar Region (極地) is the second part in a series of site-specific installations by Chen Sung-chih (陳松志). Inspired by the experimental spirit of contemporary sculpture, Chen will fill the gallery space with more than three tonnes of sand and glass shards in an attempt to draw our attention to the tiny objects that are present in our daily life.
■ Project Fulfill Art Space (就在藝術中心), 2, Alley 45, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷45弄2號). Open Tuesdays
to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm.
Tel: (02) 2707-6942
■ Opening reception on Friday at 4pm. Until Sept. 19
Any Scene You Want (呼喚語) is a solo exhibit of new landscape paintings by Hong Ling (洪凌). Hong’s layering of translucent white over a skin-toned underpainting has caused some critics to suggest that his work is an emblem of the female body. Others claim that the delicate coloring is the refined renderings of an Asian aesthete preoccupied with nature. As the title suggests, it is left to the viewer to decide the meaning of these oil-on-canvas paintings.
■ Soka Art Center (索卡藝術中心), 2F, 57, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段57號2樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2570-0390
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 4pm. Until Oct. 24
Di-stances (D調) explores the likelihood of human survival in
a world plagued by environmental destruction and the specter of nuclear war. The 12 participating artists from France, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, who work in painting, installation, ink, video and sculpture, also engage in a visual dialogue as a means of illustrating how artists from one country influence and are influenced by artists from
other countries.
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts
(關渡美術館), Taipei National University of the Arts (台北藝術大學), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Taipei City
(台北市學園路1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm.
Tel: (02) 2896-1000 X2432
■ Opening reception on Friday at 5pm. Artist talk on Sunday from 2pm to 4pm. Until Sept. 26
adj. Dance (形容詞舞蹈) is a solo exhibit by Yu Cheng-ta (余政達). Yu’s dance videos attempt to transform the abstract vocabulary of movement into a series of physical codes that can be interpreted by the viewer. Accompanied by subtitles that serve as visual cues, the works possess a format similar to instructional dance videos, where participants “can somehow temporarily get rid of the communication anxiety or stress from the inadequacy of language ... to freely express ourselves.” Richard Simmons, eat your
heart out.
■ Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓). Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 8771-3372
■ Until Sept. 19
Digital Impressions (數位印記), a series of audio and visual installations by Liao Keh-nan (廖克楠), looks back at the evolution of analog and digital technology over the past 30 years and the eclipse of the former by the latter. Liao’s interactive installations are intended to remind people about the digital revolution, particularly its rapid change.
■ Digital Arts Center (台北數位藝術中心), 180 Fuhua Rd, Taipei City
(台北市福華路180號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Tel: (02) 7736-0708
■ Until Sept. 12
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located