Last month, contributing reporter David Frazier wrote an article (“Fighting fake culture,” April 17, page 11) about the commercialization of culture parks like Huashan 1914 Creative Park and Songshan Culture Creative Park. Nominally set up to provide space for artists to create and be inspired, they are now dominated by large organizations that have turned them into, as Frazier wrote, “cultural shopping malls.”
Fortunately, there’s been somewhat of a smaller countermovement. Nine days after Frazier’s article was published, dozens of expat and local artists gathered at Huashan for a live painting event alongside live music and a generous sale of sangrias and craft beers. Called Artists Break the Mold 3, it was hosted by the Red Room group, a Taipei-based non-profit that aims to bring together the creative community by hosting regular events.
The artwork produced that day has since been displayed on a rotating basis at Huashan and The Escape Artist, a restaurant-come-live painting venue. On Sunday, there will be a closing reception at The Escape Artist, where the artwork will be auctioned off to the Chokgyur Lingpa Foundation’s Earthquake Relief Fund to help victims of the recent Nepal earthquake.
Photo Courtesy of Red Room
FOSTERING THE CREATIVE GENE
The idea behind Artists Break the Mold originated in July 2009 when Red Room members responded to the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot. They pulled together a group of artists and musicians for a similar live painting event named Artists Beat the Flood, and donated the proceeds to the relief effort. Last year, Red Room’s former coordinator Manav Mehta revived the idea with Artists Beat the Flood 2.
“Creation needs an audience. We are simply making that possible; the rest is magic,” says Roma Mehta, the current Red Room coordinator. The idea, she says, is to provide “a space for the creative energy in each of us to flow naturally.”
Photo Courtesy of Red Room
Mehta adds that last year’s response was particularly encouraging and that they plan to continue organizing such events on a yearly basis. What sets Artists Break the Mold apart is the level of interaction between artist and viewer — something which is hard to mimic at a typical gallery exhibition.
“It is so unlike walking into an art gallery and viewing a finished painting on a wall,” Mehta says. “It’s inspiring to observe the artist transfer his or her thoughts onto a blank canvas and watch the visual story unfold.”
Moreover, such interaction is meant to provide a much-needed dialogue and spark inspiration, thereby fending off the “fake culture” of commercialized artistic endeavors.
Photo Courtesy of Red Room
All participating artists will be at Sunday’s closing reception and viewers are encouraged to mingle and converse with them. Those who wish to paint can do so, as brushes, paints and easels will be provided. Of course, there will also be wine, sangria and snacks.
“Amateurism is celebrated,” Mehta says. “It’s important to nourish the creative gene in all of us.”
Dear readers: The Compass Taichung International Food and Music Festival in Taichung, reported in yesterday’s page 12 and originally slated to take place tomorrow and Sunday, has been canceled due to expected heavy rain. The festival has been moved to September.
The Taipei Times last week reported that the rising share of seniors in the population is reshaping the nation’s housing markets. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, about 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident. H&B Realty chief researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨), quoted in the article, said that there is rising demand for elderly-friendly housing, including units with elevators, barrier-free layouts and proximity to healthcare services. Hsu and others cited in the article highlighted the changing family residential dynamics, as children no longer live with parents,
Oct 20 to Oct 26 After a day of fighting, the Japanese Army’s Second Division was resting when a curious delegation of two Scotsmen and 19 Taiwanese approached their camp. It was Oct. 20, 1895, and the troops had reached Taiye Village (太爺庄) in today’s Hunei District (湖內), Kaohsiung, just 10km away from their final target of Tainan. Led by Presbyterian missionaries Thomas Barclay and Duncan Ferguson, the group informed the Japanese that resistance leader Liu Yung-fu (劉永福) had fled to China the previous night, leaving his Black Flag Army fighters behind and the city in chaos. On behalf of the
I was 10 when I read an article in the local paper about the Air Guitar World Championships, which take place every year in my home town of Oulu, Finland. My parents had helped out at the very first contest back in 1996 — my mum gave out fliers, my dad sorted the music. Since then, national championships have been held all across the world, with the winners assembling in Oulu every summer. At the time, I asked my parents if I could compete. At first they were hesitant; the event was in a bar, and there would be a lot
Smart speakers are a great parenting crutch, whether it be for setting a timer (kids seem to be weirdly obedient to them) or asking Alexa for homework help when the kids put you on the spot. But reader Katie Matthews has hacked the parenting matrix. “I used to have to nag repeatedly to get the kids out of the house,” she says. “Now our Google speaker announces a five-minute warning before we need to leave. They know they have to do their last bits of faffing when they hear that warning. Then the speaker announces, ‘Shoes on, let’s go!’ when
RSS