Purgatory (淨界) is a solo exhibition of oil paintings by Chinese artist Cen Long (岑龍). Cen’s stark representational paintings depict the harsh lives of peasants and minority peoples in China’s desolate regions.
■ Rong Ren Foundation for Arts and Culture (榮仁文化藝術基金會), 4F, 351, Ximen Rd, Sec 2, Tainan City (台南市西門路二段351號4樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 6pm. Tel: (06) 228-9516
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until Jan. 9
Photo courtesy of Aki Gallery
Elsewhere‧Atmosphere (異境‧意境) is a group exhibit of six contemporary photographers from China.
■ Aki Gallery (也趣藝廊), 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
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until Jan. 2
Photo courtesy of Han Art Space
Brushing aside realism as an artistic trope, Hung Yi-chen (洪藝真) draws on the ideas of theorists such as Roland Barthes to focus the viewer’s attention on the process of creating a painting rather than the painting itself. Transpose (錯‧置) features a number of these “painting is dead” works, with the plasticity of the medium taking center stage.
■ VT Art Salon (非常廟藝文空間), B1, 47 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街47號地下一樓). Open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2pm to 11pm, and Fridays and Saturdays from 2pm to 1am. Tel: (02) 2516-1060
■ Until Jan. 1
Art Supply (氣象萬千) forms part of an urban renewal project in Taipei’s Wanhua (萬華) District. Executed by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, the outdoor project includes six Taiwanese artists who apply their artistic visions to the area. Works on display range from the murals of Hung Tung-esque (洪通) creatures, installations using found objects such as driftwood and sculptures
of light.
■ 406 Plaza (萬華區406廣場) is located near Exit 1 of the Ximen MRT Station (西門捷運站) at the corner of Zhonghua Road Section 1 (中華路一段) and Changsha Street (長沙街), Taipei City.
■ Until March 28
Everlasting Efforts (努力不懈) presents 100 pieces of pottery and sculpture by Tseng Ming-nan (曾明男). Tseng’s work explores rural sentiments, friendships, family relationships and traditional culture. His creative style begins with ceramics, which he merges with other mediums such as glass, bronze, calligraphy and ink painting.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2361-0270. Admission: NT$30
■ Until Jan. 23
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