Internationally renowned Taiwanese painters Leigh Wen (鄭麗雲) and Song Sheau-ming (宋曉明) are participating in a joint exhibition at Mingshan Art called Beauty Square (美的二次方). Wen’s new paintings continue her examination of classical Chinese thought and contemporary Western society through the motif of water. She uses a stylus to carve lines onto mural-sized impasto canvases of rich blues. Song’s abstract monochrome paintings express a dramatic tension between the real and unreal.
■ Mingshan Art (名山藝術) is located in Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號). Open daily from 11am to 7:30pm. Tel: (02) 3322-2988
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 2:30pm. Until Jan. 3
Photo courtesy of Mingshan Art
Japanese painter Shichinohe Masaru creates bizarre otaku portraits peopled with Lolita-like nymphets dressed in cute dresses and nurse’s uniforms. Harking back to the age of human innocence, Masaru’s realistic paintings with a surrealist bent narrate fairy tales that are simultaneously a dream and a nightmare.
■ Ping Art Space (平藝術空間), 179, Anhe Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市安和路二段179號). Open Monday to Saturday from 1pm to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2738-3317
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 4pm. Until Dec. 12
Art, Space, Complex (藝術的空間謎變) by May Hsu (徐秀美) is an on-site installation of stacked cages that symbolizes an existential view of human civilization. The work comments on the paradox between increased urbanization in an era where “people yearn for greener pasture[s] where they can breathe freely again.”
■ Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (MOCA, Taipei), 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei City (台北市長安西路39號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2552-3720. Admission: NT$50
■ Until Dec. 12
Shi Jin-hua (石晉華), Juin Shieh (謝鴻均) and Nattawut Singthong return to basics with Black, White, Gray (黑‧白‧灰), an exhibit that sees the artists using rudimentary media such as charcoal and pencil to depict their daily experiences.
■ Sakshi Gallery (夏可喜當代藝術), 33 Yitong Street, Taipei City (台北市伊通街33號). Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1:30pm to 9:30pm, Sundays from 1:30pm to 7:30pm. Tel: (02) 2516-5386
■ Until Nov. 28
More Things Could Be Remembered and Forgotten (可以記憶和可以遺忘的) is a solo show by poet, calligrapher and painter Chiang Hsun (蔣勳). Hsun’s work depicts the experiences and memories of his life through vibrant flower paintings that are evocative of Taiwan’s natural beauty.
■ Gallery 100 (百藝畫廊), 6, Ln 30, Changan E Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市長安東路一段30巷6號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2536-2120
■ Until Dec. 5
Multiplicity, Juxtaposition, Liberation: Exhibition for Spanish Ceramic Art (多重‧並置‧解放: 西班牙陶藝展) interprets recent trends in Spanish ceramic art. Curated by Jose Miranda, the exhibition offers a conversation between artists from different generations, who assemble works that employ media such as painting, sculpture and photography. The show is divided into four parts: the relationship between ceramic art, sculpture and painting; the dialogue between ceramic objects, minimalism and conceptual art; interaction of ceramic art and installation, space and viewers; and the displays of ceramic art with video art media.
■ Yingge Ceramics Museum (鶯歌陶瓷博物館), 200 Wenhua Rd, Yinge Township, Taipei County (台北縣鶯歌鎮文化路200號). Open daily from 9:30am to 5pm, closes at 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Tel: (02) 8677-2727. Admission: NT$99
■ Until Feb. 27
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
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
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built