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.
Most heroes are remembered for the battles they fought. Taiwan’s Black Bat Squadron is remembered for flying into Chinese airspace 838 times between 1953 and 1967, and for the 148 men whose sacrifice bought the intelligence that kept Taiwan secure. Two-thirds of the squadron died carrying out missions most people wouldn’t learn about for another 40 years. The squadron lost 15 aircraft and 148 crew members over those 14 years, making it the deadliest unit in Taiwan’s military history by casualty rate. They flew at night, often at low altitudes, straight into some of the most heavily defended airspace in Asia.
Beijing’s ironic, abusive tantrums aimed at Japan since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly stated that a Taiwan contingency would be an existential crisis for Japan, have revealed for all the world to see that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) lusts after Okinawa. We all owe Takaichi a debt of thanks for getting the PRC to make that public. The PRC and its netizens, taking their cue from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are presenting Okinawa by mirroring the claims about Taiwan. Official PRC propaganda organs began to wax lyrical about Okinawa’s “unsettled status” beginning last month. A Global
Taiwan’s democracy is at risk. Be very alarmed. This is not a drill. The current constitutional crisis progressed slowly, then suddenly. Political tensions, partisan hostility and emotions are all running high right when cool heads and calm negotiation are most needed. Oxford defines brinkmanship as: “The art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics.” It says the term comes from a quote from a 1956 Cold War interview with then-American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, when he said: ‘The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is
Like much in the world today, theater has experienced major disruptions over the six years since COVID-19. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine and social media have created a new normal of geopolitical and information uncertainty, and the performing arts are not immune to these effects. “Ten years ago people wanted to come to the theater to engage with important issues, but now the Internet allows them to engage with those issues powerfully and immediately,” said Faith Tan, programming director of the Esplanade in Singapore, speaking last week in Japan. “One reaction to unpredictability has been a renewed emphasis on
RSS