The evolution of human-animal relations is explored in Animal and Us (他/牠), a joint exhibition at the Digital Art Center. The artworks displayed seem to portray a symbiotic relationship — even as we stop living in close proximity with animals, we still feel a need to be close to them — for example, by domesticating them to become our pets. A myriad of angles are explored here, an important one being power relations. Our relationship to our pets is a cycle of taming, naming and feeding — a process that could, by extension, be applied to society’s disadvantaged. Helen Ting’s (丁俊心) work focuses on the growing disconnect with nature and explores why so many of us yearn for a glimpse of a grassy field, or hear the sound of lapping waves. We are all animals inside, she argues, and animals naturally belong in nature. Johnny Hsu’s (許智翔) work is a little more farcical — he depicts animals trapped in urban mazes.
■ Digital Art Center (台北數位藝術中心), 180, Fuhua Rd, Taipei City (台北市福華路180號), tel: (02) 7736-0708. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Until Nov. 27
Photo courtesy of Liang Gallery
Huang Yi-sheng (黃頤勝) inverts predator-prey dynamics in his series of sparrow paintings on display at Liang Gallery. The premise of Wrapping Absurdity (包裝一場荒謬) is that predator-prey relations are complex and nuanced. Smaller animals need to devise more elaborate ways to evade capture or to corner their antagonist. Of course, the sparrows are also metaphors for humans, and the exhibition’s title suggests the absurd nature of life in general, which pits everything as a struggle for survival. Despite Huang’s cynicism towards this Hobbesian reality, though, his paintings are beautiful and otherworldly.
■ Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心), 366, Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路366號), tel: (02) 2797-1100. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm
■ Until Dec. 4
Photo courtesy of In River Gallery
On display at MOCA is Post — Vision — Form (超金工 — 後雕塑), a retrospective of Ruan Weng-mong’s (阮文盟) metal sculptures, spanning the last two decades. Ruan, who also worked as a jewelry designer, makes metal aesthetically pleasing. His sculptures, even the gargantuan ones (including one that is three meters long), are not at all industrial, but delicate, intriguing and energetic. Having worked in Germany, Ruan fuses Western abstraction with Eastern aesthetics. Time and space are important motifs, as is longing for one’s homeland.
■ 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
■ Until Dec. 4
Photo courtesy of Digital Art Center
Opening tomorrow at In River Gallery is Uniformity of All Things (齊物), a solo exhibition by Yu Chuan (堉泉). The artist is known for his colorful paintings of mythical creatures, flowers and nature scenes. Though Yu blends influences from Western impressionism and cubism, his paintings are inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy and he is fascinated by the concepts of death, reincarnation and immortality. The paintings are divided into the animal series and the flower series.
■ 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 Dec. 28
Photo courtesy of Michael Ku Gallery
Tomorrow is the opening of Filipino artist Lao Lianben’s (劉安民) first solo exhibition in Taiwan. Held at Michael Ku Gallery, Sense of Light (光華) is a series of 12 paintings by Lao that explores Buddhist philosophy and its relevance to contemporary society. Lao’s style is minimalistic and abstract. He favors gray hues, sometimes pastel tones, painting lines that resemble subtle cracks in concrete, the result of which is lulling and introspective, even a little mysterious. Though his paintings are often characterized as “monochrome,” they offer texture and depth, showing not only that less is more, but also that there is always more than what meets the eye.
■ Michael Ku Gallery (谷公館), 4F-2, 21, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段21號4樓之2), tel: (02) 2577-5601. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Jan. 4
Photo courtesy of MOCA
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