Named after a kind of mahogany from the Philippines, meranti, which is native to many Southeast Asian countries (and that Taiwan also imports) Chiu Chen-hong’s (邱承宏) solo exhibition, Meranti (梅蘭蒂), at Frees Art Space uses wood to comment on Taiwan’s forestry industry and ways to improve it. Chiu has remodeled the entire gallery floor, covering it in wooden pallets and categorizing the wood by species. The purpose is as scientific as it is aesthetic. It is also interactive in the sense that viewers can sniff out the various types of wood while learning how they themselves can play a part in taking care of the environment and do their bit to preserve Taiwan’s forests. Chiu’s previous work focused on factories and the mining industry, and his experiences have taught him that humans need to enter into a better, more holistic relationship with raw materials.
■ Frees Art Space (福利社), B1, 82, Xinsheng N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生北路三段82號B1); tel: (02) 2585-7600. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 11am to 7pm, Saturdays 1:30pm to 9pm, closed Sundays and Mondays
■ Opens tomorrow. Until March 18
Photo courtesy of Nunu Fine Art
Photographer Pong Yi-ping (彭怡平) has a solo exhibition at Taipei’s MOCA entitled Heroom (女人的房間). Pong, who has spent the last 20 years researching and taking pictures of women in various domestic settings in over 50 different countries, has dedicated her career to telling the untold stories of women around the world as well as critiquing the social, economic and political structures that affect them. The exhibition focuses on some of her most recent works and includes photos of women lounging in lavish-looking living rooms as well as laboring away in run-down, grimy kitchens. Despite the socio-economic differences, however, there is something distinctly feminine and empowering in all of Pong’s photographs. Most obvious is that the women are smiling in all of them. It’s not to say that they are content with domesticity, but it appears more like their smiles stem from achieving something, whether it is through earning their own money to live in the house or simply by decorating it. Either way, there is always more than meets the eye with Pong’s haunting photographs.
■ Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (台北當代藝術館, 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
■ Opens tomorrow. Until March 27
Photo courtesy of In River Gallery
Husband-wife artistic duo Alfredo Aquilizan and Isabel Aquilizan have their first exhibition at Nunu Fine Art in Taipei. The Aquilizans, who were born and raised in the Philippines, now live in Brisbane, Australia with their five children, so it is fitting that their artwork deals with concepts such as diaspora, displacement and belonging. Entitled Sense of Place: Project Another Country (地方之感:另一個國家計畫), the exhibition consists mainly of sculptures and collages made out of cardboard, used clothing, books and stuffed animals — basically items from home or materials that are makeshift. In one series, upturned sailboats and houses are stacked on top of each other to look like labyrinths, emitting a feeling that is simultaneously cozy and confusing, while the Flower Series, which consists of a collection of baby’s clothing repurposed to resemble the folds of flower petals, add a warm touch to the exhibition. Although the artwork is intensely personal — we essentially get a peek into the Aqulizans’ family life — it’s also highly relatable as it is no secret that more and more people are traveling these days and making other countries their “home.”
■ Nunu Fine Art (路由藝術), 5, Ln 67, Jinshan S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市金山南路1段67巷5號), tel: (02) 3322-6207. Open Wednesdays to Sundays from noon to 7pm
■ Until March 27
Photo courtesy of MOCA, Taipei
In River Gallery is back with another fine display of artwork that traverses Western painting techniques with Eastern sensibilities in Meeting Eternal Mountains (候,山岳). Chen San’s (塵三) colorful, tranquil paintings combine abstract impressionist styles with the finesse and structure of Chinese brush paintings. Chen, who lives at the foot of the mountains in Taipei, has always been inspired by the calm and pensive feelings that nature conjures. This feeling is translated into his oil paintings, which are rich in earthy greens and dreamy violet hues. Rivers, rocks and flowers are only faintly visible in some of Chen’s paintings. The point is more to lull the viewer into experiencing the same type of awe that nature impresses upon Chen.
■ In River Gallery (穎川畫廊), 2F, 45, Renai Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路一段45號2樓), tel: (02) 2357-9900. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 8pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until March 30
Currently on display at the National Palace Museum is a riveting exhibition of photographs uncovered from the latter half of the Qing Dynasty in China. The Forbidden City and the Odyssey of Its Treasures: A Photographic Retrospective (百年回眸-故宮禁城及文物播遷影像特展), which features photographs on loan from the Palace Museum of Beijing, document daily life in the imperial court as well as the comings and goings of ordinary people on the street. Photography came with the arrival of Western photographers to the southern ports of Hong Kong and Canton (present-day Guangzhou) and spread quickly. The photo collection captures the rapid transformation of late-Qing China, from a relatively closed country to a country beseeched by foreign influences — something which can be seen in the different types of clothes that people wore. As the museum notes state, “the images also bear witness to the dribs and drabs in the transition of political power.”
■ National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院), 221 Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市至善路二段221號), tel: (02) 2881-2021. Open daily from 9am to 5pm
■ Until April 17
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50