Wang Jun-jieh (王俊傑) uses video, photography and mixed-media to reinterpret Marcel Duchamp’s Etant Donnes in Project Rrose: Love and Death (若絲計畫:愛與死). The “Rrose” of the exhibit’s title refers to a pseudonym used by Duchamp and appears in a series of photos of him dressed as a woman, shot by Man Ray. Wang’s focus revolves around “eros and civilization,” the idea put forth by Herbert Marcuse that humanity’s struggles can be found in the conscious suppression of our instincts.
■ Galerie Grand Siecle (新苑藝術), 17, Alley 51, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段12巷51弄17號), tel: (02) 2578-5630. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm
■ Until June 19
Part calligraphy exhibition and part hagiography of one of Taiwan’s most visible religious leaders, Travel Like the Clouds and Water — Exhibition of the Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s One-Stroke Calligraphy (雲水天下:星雲大師一筆字書法展) offers a fascinating look at the merging of art and religion. Travel Like the Clouds and Water presents hundreds of “calligraphic works, including Buddhist epigrams, concise teachings and wise thoughts,” according to the museum’s introduction, by Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (星雲法師), founder of Fo Guang Shan Monastery (佛光山). The museum hopes that “these writings will bring viewers closer to the mind of a spiritual master and inspire them to attain spiritual wisdom and bliss.” Odd words for a museum exhibit, perhaps, but the show does demonstrate the continued importance of religion, and charismatic leaders like Hsing Yun, in Taiwan.
■ 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 Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission: NT$30
■ Until June 6
The Uncertain Gravity of Being (非關輕/重) brings together six well-known artists — Michael Lin (林明弘), Hong Shao-pei (洪紹裴), Huang Bow-wei (黃柏維), Yeh Hung-hsing (葉紅杏), Tsai Yu-shan (蔡玉珊) and Liu Shih-tung (劉時棟) — whose works touch on the tropes of gravity and lightness.
■ 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), tel: (02) 2536-2120. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Sunday
This is the final week to see Celebration by Marc Chagall (生日快樂 — 夏卡爾的愛與美) in Taipei before the exhibition travels to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立台灣美術館) in Taichung, where it opens on June 4. The show presents more than 100 works by the Russia-born French artist, a pioneer of European modernism who synthesized the modernist art movements of cubism, symbolism and fauvism. But as this exhibition reveals, Chagall remained an exponent of the glories of his native village, its colorful flowers and ancient hovels. The works on display are gathered from museums and private collections in Japan, and include pieces from collections in France and Switzerland. Chagall’s 1915 masterpiece L’Anniversaire forms the centerpiece of the exhibition, which showcases Chagall’s art and his passion for color.
■ 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) 8692-5588 X2312 (10:30am to 6:30pm). Open daily from 9am to 5pm. Admission: NT$250
■ Until Sunday
Call for submissions:
This is the final week to submit an application for Taipei Artist Village’s artist-in-residency program for Taipei Artist Village or Treasure Hill Artist Village. Taipei Artist Village is also accepting applications for exhibit proposals for next year. Details and submission guidelines can be downloaded from the Taipei Artist Village Web site at www.artistvillage.org (Chinese and English). Applications sent by e-mail are not being accepted.
■ Submission deadline is May 31
■ For inquiries about the artist-in-residence program and exhibition, send an e-mail to air@artistvillage.org or call (02) 3393-7377
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