In the age of computers and typing, German artist Lars Koepsel installs a show on handwriting and its special power to transform meaning. Koepsel has copied philosophical texts by hand, layering one line of text over the other on paper. Each copy, on view now at Exercises of Emptiness (行空), isn’t a manuscript but instead a single picture woven thickly with text that is illegible and neutralized of meaning. This exhibition is part of a two-year artists’ exchange between Taipei’s VT Artsalon (非常廟藝文空間) and Germany’s Apartment der Kunst.
■ VT Artsalon, B1, 17, Ln 56, Xinsheng Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生北路三段56巷17號B1), tel: (02) 2597-2525, open Tuesdays through Fridays from 11:30am to 7pm, Saturdays from 1:30pm to 9pm, closed Sundays and Mondays
Photo courtesy of Yingge Ceramics Museum
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 7pm
To See LIFE, To See the World (看見生活: 經典人生攝影展) is 134 LIFE magazine snapshots of dramatic and intimate moments of the 20th century, from the first moon landing to scenes of friendship and childbirth. The now-defunct LIFE was a US-based publication and home of memorable images like Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-J Day in Times Square, a nurse in a sailor’s arms at the end of the Asia-Pacific War. LIFE folded in 1972 but maintains Life.com, one of the Internet’s largest collections of professional photography.
Copyright: Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.
■ Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區), 133, Guangfu S Rd, Taipei City (台北市光復南路133號), tel: (02) 8643-3955, open daily from 10am to 6pm, no entry after 5:30pm. Admission: NT$220
■ Until Sept. 21
To solo exhibition Applied Objects (應用. 物件), Greater Tainan-based potter and professor Fang Po-ching (方柏欽) brings remarkable tea-ware sculptures: vertical trays in the form of geode cross-sections or wind-blasted logs, bearing white enamel cups with the texture of pebbles. Each set is fully functional and strives to expand the creative possibilities of the functional object, in a craft culture that tends to devalue utilitarian vessels.
■ Yingge Ceramics Museum (鶯歌陶瓷博物館), 200 Wenhua Rd, New Taipei City (新北市文化路200號), tel: (02) 8677-2727. Open Mondays to Fridays from 9:30am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9:30am to 6pm, closed first Monday of the month. Admission: Free
■ Until Sept. 28
Woodblock printing, an ancient technique used to adorn textiles and reproduce text, has become a thriving contemporary art form in Taiwan. The Progress in Taiwan Modern Printmaking: Woodcut & Its Variations (台灣木版畫現代進行式) compiles valuable woodblock prints to survey developments in the national printmaking industry over the past 10 years. About a hundred works by 40 Taiwanese artists are organized under three themes: pioneers, iconic wood cutters and modern printmaking. This exhibition is held in conjunction with the International Biennial Print Exhibit (國際版畫雙年展), a group show of contemporary wood cutters from 56 countries. For more information about the shows, visit www.ntmofa.gov.tw (English and Chinese).
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立臺灣美術館), 2, Wuquan W Rd Sec 1, Greater Taichung (台中市西區五權西路一段2號) tel: (04) 2372-3552, open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until Oct. 26
At Exhibition of Traditional Costumes Dolls (傳統民族服飾娃娃展), master craftsman Chang Tsung-hui (張從惠) is showing handmade dolls dressed in detail-perfect garments of Taiwan’s Aboriginal people and of the Miao (苗族), a minority ethnic group in southern China.
■ National Museum of Prehistory (臺灣史前文化博物館), 1 Museum Rd, Taitung City (台東市博物館路1號), tel: (08) 938-1166, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm
■ Until Nov. 9
Last week, Viola Zhou published a marvelous deep dive into the culture clash between Taiwanese boss mentality and American labor practices at the Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) plant in Arizona in Rest of World. “The American engineers complained of rigid, counterproductive hierarchies at the company,” while the Taiwanese said American workers aren’t dedicated. The article is a delight, but what it is depicting is the clash between a work culture that offers employee autonomy and at least nods at work-life balance, and one that runs on hierarchical discipline enforced by chickenshit. And it runs on chickenshit because chickenshit is a cultural
By far the most jarring of the new appointments for the incoming administration is that of Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) to head the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). That is a huge demotion for one of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Tseng has one of the most impressive resumes in the party. He was very active during the Wild Lily Movement and his generation is now the one taking power. He has served in many of the requisite government, party and elected positions to build out a solid political profile. Elected as mayor of Taoyuan as part of the
Moritz Mieg, 22, lay face down in the rubble, the ground shaking violently beneath him. Boulders crashed down around him, some stones hitting his back. “I just hoped that it would be one big hit and over, because I did not want to be hit nearly to death and then have to slowly die,” the student from Germany tells Taipei Times. MORNING WALK Early on April 3, Mieg set out on a scenic hike through Taroko Gorge in Hualien County (花蓮). It was a fine day for it. Little did he know that the complex intersection of tectonic plates Taiwan sits
When picturing Tainan, what typically comes to mind is charming alleyways, Japanese architecture and world-class cuisine. But look beyond the fray, through stained glass windows and sliding bookcases, and there exists a thriving speakeasy subculture, where innovative mixologists ply their trade, serving exquisite concoctions and unique flavor profiles to rival any city in Taiwan. Speakeasies hail from the prohibition era of 1920s America. When alcohol was outlawed, people took their business to hidden establishments; requiring patrons to use hushed tones — speak easy — to conceal their illegal activities. Nowadays legal, speakeasy bars are simply hidden bars, often found behind bookcases