For those who missed the outstanding New Generation Photographers of Taiwan (台灣新世代攝影) at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei that ended last month, you still have a chance to view some of the great work by Taiwan’s upcoming photographers at TIVAC. The exhibit, which bears the same title and contains many of the same artists, also features lectures about photography on April 16 and April 23. Lectures begin at 3:30pm.
■ 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 11:30am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2773-3347
■ Opening reception on Friday at 6pm. Until May 1
Photo Courtesy of TIVAC
Lin & Lin Gallery (大未來林舍畫廊) will hold a retrospective exhibit of China-born, Taiwan-raised and Italy-based artist Hsiao Chin (蕭勤). Hsiao, the winner of the 2002 National Fine Art Prize (國家文藝獎), studied abstract painting and was a prominent advocate of the avant-garde wave of Taiwanese modern art during the 1950s. His art combines the distinctive style of modern art and philosophical influences from the East.
■ Lin & Lin Gallery (大未來林舍畫廊), 16 Dongfeng St, Taipei City, (台北市東豐街16號). Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10am to 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2721-8488.
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3:30pm. Until May 1
Photo Courtesy of Lin & Lin Gallery
Pink Coordinates (粉紅座標) is as much a forum for discussion about the state of Taiwan’s contemporary art scene as it is the presentation of figurative paintings by Ho Chu-chun (何竹君), Chang Yi-hsuan (張逸萱) and Huang Pei-han (黃沛涵). Curators Lai Chun-chieh (賴駿杰) and Lin Li-yin (林俐吟) will employ social media to get the public involved in a discussion about the nature of contemporary painting and the transforming aesthetic principles that underlie it.
■ 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 May 1
Fading In/Fading Out (思索著 ... 遺忘 ... ) brings together 78 works of photography and film by Tseng Yu-chin (曾御欽). Tseng’s work has always tiptoed along a thin line between the taboo and the acceptable. His bizarre and haunting imagery features children in obscure, ambiguous, and alienated situations, offering a slightly frightening look at childhood.
■ Nou Gallery (新畫廊), 232, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段232號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2700-0239
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3:30pm. Until May 7
See a Cosmos in a Vignette (小品大境界) is a new series of ink paintings by renowned artist Lo Ching (羅青).
■ 99 Degrees Art Center (99度藝術中心), 5F, 259, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段259號5樓). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2700-3099
■ Until April 17
Lin Pey-chwen (林珮淳) “virtualizes” a human and beast figure named “Eve Clone” in Eve Clone Series (夏娃克隆系列). Lin’s work contemplates the Biblical story of Revelation, particularly the section discussing the number 666, which all her digital and interactive 3D hologram sculptures are marked with. These figures serve as a metaphor for disasters caused by the progress of science and technology, and the artist hopes to reveal that “behind every temporary fantasy, there lies a hidden crisis.”
■ 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
■ Until May 1
In the mainstream view, the Philippines should be worried that a conflict over Taiwan between the superpowers will drag in Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr observed in an interview in The Wall Street Journal last year, “I learned an African saying: When elephants fight, the only one that loses is the grass. We are the grass in this situation. We don’t want to get trampled.” Such sentiments are widespread. Few seem to have imagined the opposite: that a gray zone incursion of People’s Republic of China (PRC) ships into the Philippines’ waters could trigger a conflict that drags in Taiwan. Fewer
March 18 to March 24 Yasushi Noro knew that it was not the right time to scale Hehuan Mountain (合歡). It was March 1913 and the weather was still bitingly cold at high altitudes. But he knew he couldn’t afford to wait, either. Launched in 1910, the Japanese colonial government’s “five year plan to govern the savages” was going well. After numerous bloody battles, they had subdued almost all of the indigenous peoples in northeastern Taiwan, save for the Truku who held strong to their territory around the Liwu River (立霧溪) and Mugua River (木瓜溪) basins in today’s Hualien County (花蓮). The Japanese
Pei-Ru Ko (柯沛如) says her Taipei upbringing was a little different from her peers. “We lived near the National Palace Museum [north of Taipei] and our neighbors had rice paddies. They were growing food right next to us. There was a mountain and a river so people would say, ‘you live in the mountains,’ and my friends wouldn’t want to come and visit.” While her school friends remained a bus ride away, Ko’s semi-rural upbringing schooled her in other things, including where food comes from. “Most people living in Taipei wouldn’t have a neighbor that was growing food,” she says. “So
Whether you’re interested in the history of ceramics, the production process itself, creating your own pottery, shopping for ceramic vessels, or simply admiring beautiful handmade items, the Zhunan Snake Kiln (竹南蛇窯) in Jhunan Township (竹南), Miaoli County, is definitely worth a visit. For centuries, kiln products were an integral part of daily life in Taiwan: bricks for walls, tiles for roofs, pottery for the kitchen, jugs for fermenting alcoholic drinks, as well as decorative elements on temples, all came from kilns, and Miaoli was a major hub for the production of these items. The Zhunan Snake Kiln has a large area dedicated