American artist Ryan Greenly likes the simple stuff: a clean diet, meditation and escapes into nature. His latest pieces, on view at solo show Jack (我,一無所有), were made in his periods of quiet and lonely mental activity. Greenly has papered over walls with material he discovered alone: flowers and leaves, pages torn from books, news clips, photos, quotes and pastiche sketches based on memories of people. Through the collages, he tries to share his monastic moment with his viewers, yet implies also that it’s impossible to extricate completely from contemporary civilization.
■ 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
■ Until Nov. 9
Photo courtesy of Taipei Artist Village
Over the Mountain (山外山) is a retrospective exhibition for Chou Ying (周瑛, 1922-2011), one of Taiwan’s founding print artists and educators. Chou is best-known for his Ode to Stone series, which uses an unusual frottage (rubbing) — instead of carving — technique to preserve the texture of the stone surface. The National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館) brings together 150 works including his most famous prints, as well as never-before-shown pieces like dark realist sketches he completed in China between 1939 and 1948. Chou left the artworks behind when he fled to Taiwan, and they were hidden for years by his brother for fear of political persecution.
■ National Museum of History, 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: NT$30
■ Until Dec. 15
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Design Museum
Fresh Taiwan (文創國際拓銷特展) is an exhibition showcasing 70 of Taiwan’s best-selling products from the budding cultural and creative (文創) industry. Items include UID’s (桔禾創意) Dolly — a lamb-shaped coin bank with separate “lamb chops” for different currencies — and iHorn, an iPhone amplifier and recorder shaped like a vintage Taiwan-issued vinyl record. This catalog of items has entered markets of Tokyo, Paris, London and four other cities to commercial success, and is on display now as an example for local artists trying to break into a lucrative and growing market.
■ Taiwan Design Museum (台灣設計館), 133 Guangfu S Rd, Taipei City (臺北市光復南路133號), tel: (02) 2745-8199 ext. 379, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closed on Mondays, general admission: NT$50
■ Until Nov. 17
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Music Institute
Taiwan’s Grand Maestros (臺灣音樂憶像) is a memorial exhibition for Chang Hao (張昊), Kuo Chih-yuan (郭芝苑) and Chen Su-ti (陳泗治), late classical music composers who helped make Taiwanese music a genre. The show features their handwritten scores, letters and other personal items, as well as vintage posters, programs and newspaper coverage of their concerts. The exhibition includes free lectures and concerts of each composer’s works in Taipei on Nov. 10 and Greater Taichung on Nov. 22. To register or to learn more, visit www.tmi.ncfta.gov.tw.
■ Taiwan Music Institute (臺灣音樂館) at the National Center for Traditional Arts (國立傳統藝術中心), 26 Hangzhou N Rd, Taipei City (臺北市杭州北路26號), tel: (02) 2341-1200, open Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 4:30, closed every first Monday of the month from 9am to 1pm
■ Opens Monday. Until Nov. 29
CM Leung (蔡敏亮) brings Hong Kong-style wedding photography to Huashan 1914 Creative Park for the Bounce Art Exhibitions (就是要跳藝術展), a series of month-long solo exhibitions that opened July 18. Leung works with live props such as ceremonial guards to create western, highly stylized scenes that border on the surreal. Last year, Leung was named a Top 10 Chinese photographer by Portrait Photography Magazine and a Top 30 Asian wedding photographer in Asia by Signature Wedding Magazine.
■ Red Brick Area (紅磚六合院), Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文創園區), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號), tel: (02) 3322-3663, open Sundays to Thursdays from 11am to 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 8pm
■ Until Nov. 10
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