Six international artists have spent the last month at Chenglong Village (成龍), Yunlin County, creating site-specific environmental art installations, which will open to the public this weekend as part of the 2012 Cheng Long Wetlands International Environmental Art Project. Under the theme, “What’s for dinner?” the artists seek to emphasize environmental issues related to the production of seafood. The installations will be made from found and recycled materials and will be shown inside abandoned houses, along roadways and in the Chenglong Wetlands (成龍濕地) nature reserve. For more information in English go to artproject4wetland.wordpress.com
■ Chenglong Wetlands (成龍濕地), Chenglong Village, Kouhu Township, Yunlin County (雲林縣口湖鄉成龍村), tel: 0930-375-160 (Jane Ingram Allen)
■ Opens Saturday. Until Dec. 31
Photo courtesy of IT Park
Sex, sex and more sex underlies Alive and Kicking, a joint exhibition of sculpture by Chinese artist Zhou Chunya (周春芽) and illustrations by Spanish designer Jaime Hayon. According to MOTS’ press release, Chou “gives a truthful portrayal of the libido of grown men through the pompousness, clumsiness and growling faces of the ‘green dog.’” The sometimes drooling, sometimes yapping canine sculptures personify both the restraint and excess of the male id. Hayon’s designs riff off the sculptures of Chou. Hayon will give a lecture, titled Evolution — A Decade Exploring in Art and Design, on Thursday from 7pm to 9pm at Guoguang Hall (國光廳) in the Chinese Petroleum Building (中油大樓), 3, Songren Rd, Taipei City (台北市松仁路3號). Call (02) 2778-3188 X851 for details and to reserve a free ticket
■ MOT Arts, 3F, 22, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路一段22號3樓), tel: (02) 2751-8088. Open daily from 11:30am to 8pm
■ Begins Friday. Until June 17
Photo courtesy of 2012 Cheng Long Wetlands International Environmental Art Project
Anyone interested in the history of Chinese painting should not miss The Art and Aesthetics of Form: Selections From the History of Chinese Painting (造型與美感-中國繪畫選粹). Arranged chronologically, it covers the emergence of figure painting from the Six Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty; the northern and southern traditions of landscape painting that emerged during the Five Dynasties period; and the state-supported “orthodox school” that emerged during the Ming Dynasty, which attempted to revive and unify various ancient styles. Throughout, emphasis is given to painting as a form of scholarly self-expression.
■ 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. Regular admission: NT$160
■ Until June 25
Hong Kong artist Tam Wai-ping (譚偉平) has just passed midlife, a time, he says, when people begin to reminisce on the first half of their life. Re-read (重讀) tries to do just that by bringing together his multi-media (photography, video, installation) works dating from 1995 up to the present, much of which examines the individual’s relationship to the land, whether environmental or a nostalgic place of longing.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號), tel: (02) 2507-7243. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm
■ Until May 26
Adopting a photojournalistic perspective, Moments of the Past (光影歲月) presents 130 photographs from the collection of the National Museum of History. Curated by Chang Chao-tang (張照堂), a respected photographer, the images on display capture the social evolution of Taiwan from the 1920s, when, according to the museum’s press release, “the price of a camera equaled that of an apartment,” to the 1990s when “cameras had become a household gadget.”
■ 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. General admission is NT$30
■ Until May 31
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