Floating is a new series of photographs by Sheu Jer-yu (許哲瑜) that ponders the experience of watching and being watched.
■ Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (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), tel: (02) 2773-3347. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6pm
■ Opening reception and lecture on Saturday at 3:30pm. Until March 27
Photo courtesy of TIVAC
In Hollow Noise (雜音空態), Wang Fu-jui (王福瑞) gathers together common sounds — wind, waves, water — and processes them using machines that he built. The result is a sometimes disjunctive, sometimes ethereal audio experience.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號), tel: (02) 2507-7243. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 7pm. Until March 19
Photo courtesy of Eslite Gallery
Inked (墨之) brings together new works by China-born, New York-based artist Jennifer Wen Ma (馬文). Ma’s output takes a variety of forms, from video projections and sculptures, to drawings and interactive installations. This exhibit focuses on her interest in ink painting, which she has developed over the past two years.
■ Eslite Gallery (誠品畫廊), 5F, 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei City (台北市松高路11號5F), tel: (02) 8789-3388 X1588. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until March 20
Surreal oil paintings, black-and-white nature photography, abstract pencil drawings and driftwood sculpture are among the works on display in a group exhibit of Taiwanese artists at Singart. The six exhibiting artists are Ma Fang-yu (馬芳渝), Su Yuan-ming (蘇沅銘), Lin Yin-tang (林蔭棠), Liu Ke-feng (劉克峰), Chiu Chin-ting (邱勤庭) and Lin Shi-tsung (林世聰).
■ Singart (新心藝術館), 67 Shengli Rd, Tainan City (台南市勝利路67號), tel: (06) 275-3957. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 8pm, closed Mondays and every second and fourth Sunday of each month
■ Until Feb. 26
The National Palace Museum is currently displaying 50 of its recent acquisitions of ink painting and calligraphy, some of which date to the Song Dynasty. Entitled A New Era for the Museum Collection: Recent Additions of Fine Painting and Calligraphy (典藏新紀元—歷年入藏書畫精品展), highlights include a commentary on The Book of Changes (易經) by Song Dynasty calligrapher Zhu Xi (朱熹), a clerical script by Qing Dynasty calligrapher He Shaoji (何紹基), Lohan in a Grotto (巖穴棲) by Kuncan (髡殘) and Panoramic View of the Suao-Hualien Roadway (蘇花攬勝) by Chang Dai-chien (張大千).
■ National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院), 221, Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市至善路二段221號), tel: (02) 2881-2021. Open daily from 9am to 5pm. Admission: NT$160
■ Until April 30
Blue and White and Underglaze Red (青花.釉裏紅 — 歐陽健中收藏展) presents 54 blue-and-white and red underglaze objects from the collection of renowned ceramics connoisseur Steven Yang Ou (歐陽). The exhibit traces the technological development of Chinese porcelain and explores the aesthetics of this refined art form.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號), tel: (02) 2361-0270. Open daily from 10am to 6pm. Closed Mondays, except for special exhibits. General admission is NT$30
■ Until March 13
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and