Woodland and Beyond brings together three series of photographs, titled Woodlands, Trees of Tel Aviv, and Landscapes, by German photographer Mat Hennek, who is equally well known for his psychologically complex images of classical musicians. The works on display at 1839 offer an almost painterly vision of forests and trees, which allows the viewer to feel as much as see their natural beauty.
■ 1839 Contemporary Gallery (當代藝廊), B1, 120 Yanji St, Taipei City (台北市延吉街120號B1), tel: (02) 2778-8458. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 8pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 2:30pm. Until May 13
Photo courtesy of 1839 Contemporary Gallery
Can unfamiliar environments awaken memories? This is the underlying idea explored in Chu Yin-hua’s (朱盈樺) Once Upon a City (沒有地圖的城市), for which he uses a mise en scene style of photography to explore a state wherein, according to his artist statement, “perceptions of the physical environment are overlaid with memories.”
■ 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 Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 2pm. Until April 28
Venezuela From Below presents the work of Austrian documentary filmmakers Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini. The exhibit is part of TheCube Project Spaces’ Re-envisioning Society (重見/建社會) series, which reflects on the characteristics of and changes in contemporary life. The screened films examine the popularity of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the “Bolivian Revolution” that he initiated and his attempts to purge the country of neo-liberal policies. According to TheCube’s press release, “the films meticulously portray how the development of a democratic socialism, participatory democracy and autonomy of workers that emerged over the past decade have changed the Venezuelans’ envisioning of politics and the social structure.”
■ TheCube Project Space (立方計畫空間), 2F, 13, Alley 1, Ln 136, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段136巷1弄13號2樓), tel: (02) 2368-9418. Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 12pm to 7pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until April 29
Floating in the Roche Lobe Boundary (洛希瓣邊界的漂浮) is a new series of abstract paintings by Chen Hung-chun (陳宏群) that ponders, both philosophically and aesthetically, the teardrop-shaped region of space around a star, known as the Roche lobe, in which material is bound to the star by gravity. For Chen, this serves as a metaphor for the attraction between terrestrial bodies, each brushstroke a symbol of time’s flux and our emotional ups and downs.
■ A Gallery (一畫廊), 22, Alley 36, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷36弄22號), tel: (02) 2702-3327. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 1pm to 9pm
■ Until April 15
Correction
The photo credit in last Wednesday’s Art Journal story headlined “Pictures worth a thousand words” incorrectly identified the photographer as staff reporter Noah Buchan. The correct credit should have been “courtesy of Eslite Gallery.” The Taipei Times regrets the error.
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
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
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