New Site—East Asian Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition (新域─東亞當代陶藝交流展) examines the development of modern and contemporary Asian ceramics in a group exhibit that encompasses ceramicists from Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan. The exhibition will present a unique fusion of tradition and modern styles in East Asian pottery that is meant to develop, stimulate and expand the vision and aesthetic thinking of a new generation of Asian ceramic artists.
■ 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 Feb. 24
Photo courtesy of JIA Art Gallery
Studio de Fantasia (凡笛藝術中心) is currently showing a series of paintings by Yang Yong-fu (楊永福). Yang’s realist paintings depict European pastoral country scenes and Taiwan’s villages and ports.
■ Studio de Fantasia (凡笛藝術中心),2F, 2-1, Lane 360, Neihu Rd, Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市內湖路一段360巷2-1號2樓), tel: (02) 2627-5085. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 11am to 8pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 5pm
■ Until Feb. 3
Huang Zan-lun’s (黃贊倫) solo show Breeding (衍系), was inspired by the history of goldfish breeding in China. According to Jia Art Gallery (家畫廊), goldfish are prized because their metallic-colored scales symbolize good luck and fortune. Huang’s emphasis in these paintings is on the genetic changes of these fish (they are a domesticated member of the carp family), which serves as a statement for the artificial changes humans impose on animals “to satisfy our greed and selfish desires.”
■ Jia Art Gallery (家畫廊), 1F-1, 30, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段30號1樓之1), tel: (02) 2591-4302. Open daily from 10am to 6pm
■ Until Feb. 17
Lee Shih-yi (李詩儀) has never been afraid of shattering society’s taboos. Her participation in the 2002 exhibition The Realm of Illusion / The New Wave of Taiwan Photography (幻影天堂), which featured her collection of vibrant illustrations based on black-and-white photographs of the artist in several explicit positions, generated as much controversy as it did discussion. Lee has also worked as a tattoo artist, claiming that it is a fine art form, the only difference is in the medium used. For her current exhibition, Yi-Zhai (一宰), Lee continues to push the bounds of propriety with a series of paintings depicting women in erotic poses that are a mixture of dreamlike colors, and awkward and surreal relationships between the figures and landscape. Each work suggests the artist’s lust and sexual desire. Lee says her new works reflect her everyday life, emotions and scenes from her dreams.
■ 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). Open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2pm to 11pm, and Fridays and Saturdays from 2pm to 1am. Tel: (02) 2516-1060
■ Until Jan. 25
Portrait of an Island (海島風情畫) is a new series of paintings by Kuo Hung-kun (郭弘坤). Kuo’s silkscreen paintings in earthy and pastel tones depict various landscape scenes that celebrate Taiwan’s rich natural environment.
■ Main Trend Gallery (大趨勢畫廊), 209-1, Chengde Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市承德路三段209-1號), tel: (02) 2587-3412. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Jan. 12
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