The National Palace Museum has teamed up with the Louvre to present Western Mythology and Legends, an exhibition that narrates ancient myths through art objects dating back to antiquity. Broken down into five sections — Mythic Origins: From a Chaotic Universe to Mount Olympus; Who’s Who of Mythology: The Gods of Olympus; Love Among the Gods: Uncontrollable Passions; Heroic Epics: From Home to Virgil; and Immortal Myths and Legends: From Antiquity to Modernity — the exhibit includes ancient Greek pottery, fresco wall paintings and works of painting and sculpture by such masters of the 16th to 19th centuries as Francois Boucher, Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Antonio Canova.
■ 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 8:30am to 6:30pm. Closes at 8:30pm on Saturdays. The museum will close at 4pm on Sunday, but will remain open throughout the Lunar New Year holiday. Admission for Western Mythology and Legends: NT$280. Regular admission: NT$160
■ Begins Friday. Until May 15
Photo courtesy of NPM
Kinnie Lee (李坤山) provides an in-depth and sympathetic look at Jenn Lann Temple’s (鎮瀾宮) Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage (大甲媽祖繞境進香) through a series of photographs he took over a period of 12 years. Titled Dajia Matsu, the Goddess of the Sea (大甲媽祖), Lee abandons direct depiction of the goddess in his works, and turns to the crowd — the pilgrims walking on foot holding banners, weapons, pennants and incense and those living along the 350km pilgrimage route who offer pilgrims food, beverages and encouragement. According to the museum’s press release, “Lee attempts to explore the footprint of humanity left behind by the early dwellers of the island, and hopes to record and preserve the memories of time and space that are vanishing as the consequence of social and environmental changes.”
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wucyuan W Rd Sec 1, Greater Taichung (台中市五權西路一段2號), tel: (04) 2372-3552. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm
■ Until Feb. 19
Taipei Ceramic Award-winning artist Hsu Chih-chi (許芝綺) presents a new series of sculptures with The Candidness of Absolute Zero (絕對零度的直白). Hsu’s milky-white abstract sculptures are lyrical meditations on the interconnectedness of form and substance.
■ Yingge Ceramics Museum (鶯歌陶瓷博物館), 200 Wenhua Rd, Yingge Dist, New Taipei City (新北市鶯歌區文化路200號), tel: (02) 8677-2727. Open daily from 9:30am to 5pm. Closes at 6pm on Saturdays and Sunday. The museum will be closed on Sunday and Monday for the Lunar New Year holiday. Admission: Free
■ Until Feb. 19
For those of you in Kaohsiung over the Lunar New Year, be sure to check out the Kaohsiung International Container Arts Festival (高雄國際貨櫃藝術節). Artists from Taiwan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the US use shipping containers to create sculptures and installations that examine global themes such as population displacement, mobility, food production and the place of transcontinental shipping within the global economy.
■ Pier 2 Art Center (高雄駁二藝術特區), 1 Dayong Rd, Yancheng Dist, Greater Kaohsiung (高雄市鹽埕區大勇路1號), tel: (07) 555-0331X240. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 8pm
■ Until Jan. 31
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