Heritage: International Ceramics Exhibition (薪傳:國際陶藝特展) brings together 56 pieces from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and China that are inspired by local history and customs. Lai Fu-huan’s (賴復歡) ceramics silo, modeled after the classic Hakka grain silos of Miaoli County, is a showpiece that can also be used for rice storage. Rosanna Li (李慧嫻) depicts jolly-faced clay figurines within cha chaan teng ( “tea restaurants,” 茶餐廳), a unique fixture of Hong Kong’s culinary culture.
■ 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 Nov. 9
Photo courtesy of Art Issue Taipei
Aboriginal women present crafts at a month-long show hosted by the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Cultural Heritage in Greater Taichung. Featured pieces include Atayal textile dyes, Bunan costumes, Seediq weaves, Kavalan bamboo silk pieces, Paiwan nose flutes and Amis pottery, some of which are taught only to women by senior female members of the tribe. Through the lens of craft, the exhibition highlights the role of women in Aboriginal societies. For more information, visit: lima.thinkthing.tw.
■ Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park (台中文化創意產業園區), 362 Fuxing Rd Sec 3, Greater Taichung (台中市復興路三段362號), (04) 2229-3079. Open daily from 10am to 6pm
■ Until Nov. 10
Photo courtesy of MOCA, Taipei
Red Pill, titled after the pill of truth in The Matrix, is a group exhibition of resistance art. Participants are rising Taiwanese artists Cheng Ting-ting (鄭亭亭) and Chen Wan-jen (陳萬仁); Alfredo Jaar, who represented Chile at last year’s Venice Biennale; artist and extreme athlete Guido van der Werve and acclaimed figurative painter Clemens Krauss from Austria. The exhibition treats themes from Taiwan’s Sunflower student movement and Hong Kong’s ongoing demonstrations. Some pieces are blunt and need no explanation, while others are dispassionate and investigatory, said curator Wu Hung-fei (吳虹霏).
■ Galleria H. (恆畫廊), 12, Ln 58, Xinsheng S Rd, Taipei City (台北市新生南路一段58巷12-1號), tel: (02) 3322-2553. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 7pm
■ Until Nov. 9
Photo courtesy of Yingge Ceramics Museum
Chang Chia-ying’s (張嘉穎) solo exhibition Fairy Tale Reincarnation (童話轉生術) is a rakish reinvention of familiar stories. In 37 graphic art pieces and other media, Chang depicts Goldilocks, Gulliver and friends with modern hairstyles and chic accessories, casting them in a mini-story that occasionally strays from the original.
■ MOCA Studio at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (MOCA, Taipei), 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei City (台北市長安西路39號), tel: (02) 2552-3720. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Free admission
■ Until Nov. 30
Illusory Contour (假象的輪廓) is a mixed media exhibition by Taiwan’s Peng Hung-chih (彭泓智) and South Korea’s Kira Kim, who deal with topics from home. Kim’s new work Behind the Rainbow addresses capitalism: At first glance, it’s a mass-produced carpet, but its woven patterns chart last year’s differences in suicide rate among ethnic groups in South Korea. Peng, in his Post Inner Scripture series, uses swirling abstract brushwork to evoke the Eastern occult. In a new set of 3-D printed sculptures, he examines ways that those with physical disabilities are marginalized in society.
■ Art Issue Taipei (藝術計畫), 1F, Ln 407, 32, Tiding Blvd Sec 2, Taipei (台北市堤頂大道二段407巷32號1樓), tel: (02) 2659-7737, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7:30pm, closed on Mondays
■ Until Dec. 7
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located