The Red Room was never a room in the literal sense.
Since its inception six years ago, the nonprofit organization, which aims to provide a platform that brings together Taiwan’s creative community, took form through its array of events, held in various locations around Taipei.
“People would call and ask, ‘Hey, where’s the Red Room?’” curator Manav Mehta says. “And we’re like, ‘Sorry, the next event is in two weeks.’”
Photo courtesy of Chris Walters
Under the new name Red Room International Village, the organization opened the doors of its new space at the former Taiwan Air Force Command Center-turned-cultural park on Sept. 19 with the 71st installation of its monthly signature open mic event, Stage Time and Wine.
Red Room is only guaranteed to have the space for six months, but Mehta hopes they can extend their stay next year.
Mehta says they can now host new activities they weren’t able to before, such as the Spirits of the Night Aboriginal performance series, which debuted on Sept. 24.
Photo courtesy of Chris Walters
An art exhibition is also something that wasn’t possible without a regular venue. This afternoon, Red Room presents the opening of its first Visual Dialogues (中西對畫), a monthly art show that features a Western and Eastern artist living in Taiwan. This month’s artists, Canada’s Charles Haines and Taiwan’s Fang Yao-chung (房耀中), will be present at the event, held from 3pm to 7pm with artist introductions at 4:15pm.
Mehta says that he frequently hears about foreign artists wanting to collaborate with Taiwanese and vice versa, but that there’s something stopping both parties.
“With Red Room being a community of so many different types of people, we wanted to mix the cultures and show that there’s less of a contrast and more of a similarity,” Mehta says.
The “dialogue” will be further reinforced by not separating the two artists’ work but placing them side by side on the Red Room walls. The paintings will stay up until the end of the month.
Mehta has been involved with the Red Room since its inception, as it was started by his sister Ayesha with the help of Aveda Taiwan founder Chu Ping (朱平), who supports young entrepreneurs through his Ripplemaker Foundation. Mehta’s mother, Roma, a designer and painter, has also contributed her talents and connections to the venture.
Over the years, Red Room grew into a community with a number of regular events and collaborators, but to Mehta it was always something he did on the side.
“We always opened up shop for an event, closed down and went on with our lives,” he says.
Mehta moved to New York City about seven months ago, but when he heard that the proposal he helped write for Red Room’s new space was approved, he packed up and came home immediately.
“I grew up here,” he says. “For me, it’s like I get to come home and do my dream job.”
It’s an open space taking up the entire second floor of a building. There are no partitions, with a working table and bar to one side and a stage on the other. Much of the decorations, which include antique furniture and paintings, are provided by fellow collaborators, for example, the bar is custom made by a longtime “Red Roomer.”
“We’re sourcing our people, our friends and community,” Mehta says. “They make our space look beautiful, and we provide a platform for them. Everyone has a piece of the pie, and everyone is making this happen.”
Mehta envisions the space to be an artist hub, where people can hang out, read, paint, play music and even use it for their own events. He’s also adding more children-friendly events, such as a family art activity every fourth Sunday of the month.
In the future, Mehta is thinking of hosting workshops — ideas include the way of tea, calligraphy and cocktail mixing.
Check out their Facebook page for hours and a full list of events at www.facebook.com/redroomtaipei.
Taiwan’s English education system is being pulled apart by three opposing forces. Bilingual Nation 2030 pulls students toward English and global communication. Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness pulls them toward digital judgment, verification and AI-mediated work. But Taiwan’s old exam culture pulls them back toward memorization, grammar drills, timed reading and correct answers. If the education system keeps using old exams to define success, it risks producing graduates who are neither genuinely bilingual nor genuinely AI-ready, but trained for tasks machines can already perform. The first force is Bilingual Nation 2030. Launched in 2018, the policy aimed to “help Taiwan’s workforce connect
It seems every few days one bumps into one of those “real man” comments in which Taiwan is urged to “face reality” or similar, and “make a deal,” with the speaker implying that soon it will be too late. “Deal” advocates always present themselves as having a superior grip on reality, and the manly ability to make the “hard choice.” Their testosterone-laden language often echoes that of Taiwan sellout advocates. Note that such commentary always specifies a process (“make a deal, work with, make progress”), never the end state of what occupation by a violent authoritarian colonialist state will entail. In
There are shadowy cabals plotting to sell out Taiwan to be annexed by China, by invasion if necessary. Fortunately, they are buffoons. In 2019, former Bamboo Union gangster and founder of the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), Chang An-le (張安樂, colorfully known as “White Wolf”), led a protest at the Legislative Yuan against comments made by then-premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) that in the event of an attack by China, he would never surrender, but would protect the nation by fighting to the end, even if he only had a broom. Chang had party members bring a wooden casket that they
June 1 to June 7 "If all Taiwanese were as afraid of dying as you, then what would happen?” Physician Shih Chiang-nan (施江南) reportedly said this to his wife Chen Chiao-tung (陳焦桐) after she urged him to stop intervening on behalf of Taiwanese soldiers stranded overseas after serving in the Japanese Army during World War II. Shih had clashed with high-ranking officials over the issue, engaged in several heated arguments with Taiwan governor-general Chen Yi (陳儀) and allegedly shouted at general Ko Yuan-fen (柯遠芬), chief of staff of the Taiwan Garrison Command, over
RSS