Trinity is a solo exhibition of photography by Japanese photographer Sayuri Naito. The title refers to three series of black-and-white and color photography, including Silent Gold — Singing Black, Wintermute and Midsummer, that meditates on the changing seasons in different regions throughout the globe.
■ 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 July 18
A Photo holds a house of Gold brings together 100 books and catalogues published by and about Magnum photographers. Chosen by Cheng Chien-chi (張乾琦), Taiwan’s only member of the respected photography cooperative, the exhibition offers an in-depth look at some of the worlds top photographers. Admission is free, but visitors must purchase protective gloves for NT$100 before looking at the books.
■ Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (TIVAC — 台灣國際視覺藝術中心) 16, Alley 52, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段12巷52弄16號)
■ Until July 15
The title of this exhibition, Xindian Boys (新店男孩 ), refers to the locale where the four artists — Tsong Pu (莊普), Chen Shun-chu (陳順築), Wu Tung-lung (吳東龍) and Su Hui-yu (蘇匯宇) — call home and derive their inspiration from. The paintings, photography, video and installation reflect on the significance of place within the context of creativity.
■ VT Art Salon (非常廟藝文空間), B1, 47 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街47號B1), tel: (02) 2516-1060. Open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 1:30pm to 9pm, and Fridays and Saturdays from 1:30pm to 10pm
■ Until Saturday
One to All (一生萬)comprises a total of 40 objects by Chinese artist Wang Huaiqing (王懷慶) spanning his 40-plus year career, and includes prints, painting and sculpture. Having endured the hardships of the Cultural Revolution, Wang secretly painted his deceptively simple works of objects — chairs, doorways and tables — at night. He later became a member of The Contemporaries, a collective of artists that eschewed the overtly political work of dissident art groups that emerged following that dark decade of modern Chinese history. According to the museum’s introductory, Wang’s choice of title and works exemplifies the Taoist proverb, “oneness begets duality, duality begets trinity, and trinity begets all things,” a saying meant to reflect on his own creative journey.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM, 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
■ Until Aug. 5
The press blurb for Crossroads, a duo exhibit of ceramics by Serbian artist Ivan Albreht and Canadian Arina Ailincai, both artists-in-residence at the museum, begins with these heady words: “Taiwan is at the crossroads of influences, politically, economically and culturally. On one side there are two distinctive Asian civilizations, China and Japan, on the other the west.” Drawing on their own experiences as citizens of countries that are a conglomeration of different cultural and ethnic influences, the artists depict the human figure — distorted, ripped and fragmented — as an archetype to comment on the self as a reflection of our own cultural history.
■ 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. Admission: Free
■ Until Sept 2
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this shortcut into the mountains. An approaching typhoon soon wiped out the road behind them, trapping the vehicle on the mountain and forever changing the approach to Jade Mountain. THE CONTEMPORARY ROUTE Nowadays, the approach to Jade Mountain from the north side takes an
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
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
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