Chen Chieh-jen (陳界仁), Wu Tien-chang (吳天章), Daido Moriyama and Shomei Tomatsu are among 16 photographers showing their work in Documented, Doubted and Imagined Realities: Contemporary Photography From Japan and Taiwan (真實,試煉與魔幻:台日當代攝影聯展). Curated by Rudy Tseng (曾文泉), the exhibition of 70 photographs takes the end of World War II as its starting point and explores social, cultural and political issues in both countries.
■ Yi&C Contemporary Art (易雅居當代空間), 22, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷22號), tel: (02) 2781-3131. Open Mondays to Fridays from 10am to 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 2pm to 6pm
■ Opening reception on Friday at 6pm. Until Sept. 23
Photo Courtesy of Yi&C Contemporary Arts Gallery
Ours. Karaoke is a video installation by Yu Cheng -da (余政達). Yu used a webcam to film his friends engaged in all manner of spontaneous and amusing performances at karaoke clubs.
■ Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓), tel: (02) 8771-3372. Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opening reception on Friday at 3pm. Until Sept. 30
Photo Courtesy of Yi&C Contemporary Arts Gallery
1+1: A Cross Straight, Four Regions Artistic Exchange Project (1+1. 兩岸四地藝術交流計劃) pairs up 16 emerging artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Macau. The dialogue between artists from different regions is used as a starting point to examine issues of gender, identity, place and culture.
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市學園路1號), tel: (02) 2893-8870. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm
■ Until Sept. 25
US artist Candice Ivy examines the imprints that different communities in Taiwan make on the landscape in Feral, a solo show of drawings in which she examines “Taiwan’s contemporary approaches to ‘green’ architecture,” according to her artist’s statement.
■ Barry Room, Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村百里廳), 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號), tel: (02) 3393-7377. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 9pm
■ Opening reception tonight at 7pm. Until Sunday
Fifteen commissioned works highlight British architecture, fashion and product design since the 1960s in Super Contemporary — Designed in London, which charts defining creative moments in the UK. Participants include fashion designers Paul Smith and Wayne Hamingway, Pritzker Prize-winner Zaha Hadid, product designers Ron Arad and Tom Dixon, and Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the UK Pavilion for last year’s Shanghai World Expo.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號), tel: (02) 2595-7656. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm, and until 8:30pm on Saturdays. Admission: NT$30
■ Opens on Friday. Until Nov. 27
Lin Pey-chwen (林珮淳) questions the use of genetic technology to create “unnatural artificial life” in Eve Clone Series II (夏娃克隆系列 II). The bizarre, though skillfully rendered, sculptural installations of body parts were inspired by the Book of Genesis.
■ 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 Sept. 1
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