Timed, perhaps, to coincide with the Taipei International Flora Expo, Blooming (心花朵朵開) presents vibrant and “superflat” flower paintings by Chinese-born, Taiwan-based artist Wu Hao (吳昊). If the curators are to be believed, Wu’s work can be reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary artists such as Takashi Murakami who popularized the superflat genre.
■ Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), 7F, 219, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段219號7樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2711-0055
■ Opening reception, including magic show and acrobatic performance on Saturday at 3pm. Until Oct. 3
The Taipei Biennial (2010臺北雙年展) program introduction begins with a question: “One can easily imagine an exhibition of political art, but what about an exhibition on the politics of art?” The “politics of art” will take center stage at the biennial by exploring the origin, function, size and scale of the biennial and, perhaps more interestingly, raise questions about the movers and shakers behind these events. The exhibition literature continues: “By turning an exhibition inward and, in fact, against its grain — dissolving the supposed boundaries between artistic and curatorial practices, discourses and reception — this exhibition unravels the conventionally discrete artistic presentation that is otherwise mystified.” Curators Lin Hong-john (林宏璋) and Tirdad Zolghadr attempt to illustrate the multifarious elements that go into making a biennial by revealing the social circumstances upon which art is created and consumed. With so much focus on politics, one might be left wondering about aesthetics and beauty. But perhaps politics is the new beauty. As the program says: “The division between the social and the aesthetic is no longer distinguishable and thus, rendered obsolete.” Expect a lot of new media and performance art. On the Net: www.taipeibiennial.org.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM — 台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closes at 8:30pm on Saturdays. Tel: (02) 2595-7656. Portions of the biennial are being staged at other locations throughout Taipei. For complete details (in English and Chinese) go to: www.taipeibiennial.org
■ Until Nov. 14
Mountains, hot springs and seascapes are among the places represented in A Piece of Place
(地的片段), a three-person exhibition of new works by Huang Pin-ling (黃品玲), Bai Cian-yu (白倩于) and Pan Shih-hao(潘士豪). The artists are united in their use of earthy colors to represent their own ideas about Taiwan’s unique locales and people.
■ A Gallery (一畫廊), 22, Alley 36, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷36弄22號). Open Mondays to Saturdays from 1pm to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2702-3327
■ Until Sept. 25
John Fung’s (馮建中) solo exhibit of photo collages at Taiwan International Visual Arts Center draws attention to the environmental and spatial problems of large cities. Fung points his camera upwards and through a process of multi-exposure and overlapping of scenes creates a sometimes dizzying, sometimes expansive perspective. The absence of any flora or fauna in Fung’s photos suggests an unhealthy concrete environment.
■ Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (TIVAC — 台灣國際視覺藝術中心), 29, Ln 45, Liaoning St, Taipei City (台北市遼寧街45巷29號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2773-3347
■ Until Oct. 3
Arguably one of the most important modern interpreters of traditional ink brush painters, Liu Kuo-sung (劉國松) has received considerable attention over the past few years because of renewed interest in modern (i.e. Western) Chinese ink brush painting. Though this solo show at Capital Art offers little that is new in terms of themes, it is worth catching because it displays some of Liu’s smaller and lesser-known works.
■ Capital Art Center (首都藝術中心), 2F, 343, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段343號2樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2775-5268
■ Until Sept. 25
China-born, US-based artist Pan Qiliu (潘其流) follows the tradition of the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts where he studied under Lin Fengmian (林風眠), who is considered by many scholars as the pioneer of modern Chinese oil painting. More commonly known as a sculptor, Pan shows that he is an accomplished interpreter of abstract expressionism in works that are notable for the application of low-relief, which gives the paintings greater depth.
■ Tina Keng Gallery (大未來耿畫廊), 15, Ln 548, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路548巷15號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2659-0798
■ Until Sept. 26
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s