Michael Lin (林明弘) strays from his usual floral motifs that cover entire gallery walls and buildings with his latest solo exhibition New Paradise (新樂園), held in Taipei’s Eslite Gallery. Instead, this series of paintings — made over the last 10 years during his residency in Shanghai — depicts consumer items such as the old logo for a pack of Taiwan’s New Paradise cigarettes (新樂園) or the packaging for Yunnan Puer Tea (雲南普洱茶). Lin, who has lived in Taiwan, France, Belgium, the US and China, considers both consumerism and locality in his work. Who are the types of people who purchase these items? How do these items that we consume contribute to our feelings of belonging or national identity?
■ Eslite Gallery (誠品畫廊), 5F, 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei City (台北市松高路11號5樓), tel: (02) 8789-3388. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Dec. 4
Photo courtesy of Art Issue Projects
Currently on display at MOCA is Polymerization & Multiply (聚合與繁衍). The joint exhibition features the works of video artists Robert Seidel and Max Hattler from Germany and Matt Abbiss from the UK. Seidel’s “moving paintings” — blotches of neon paint swimming against a black backdrop — are created through a series of scientific processes. Deriving inspiration from early 20th-century visual music experiments, Hattler plays with both sound and imagery, the result of which is kaleidoscope-like images bopping, morphing and changing form to various beats. Abiss’s work is somewhat less abstract. The pop culture junkie had a career as a cartoonist before delving into animation and his cute and quirky comics still feature in his animated clips.
■ 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 Art Issue Projects
Chiu Chen-hung (邱承宏) makes use of the natural environment surrounding the Xindian River by Treasure Hill Artist Village for his latest exhibition. Named after the fast-growing weed, Mile-a-Minute Weed (河流砂) is a series of installations that explores the entangled relationship between humans and nature, as well as narrative structures — in particular, historical narratives. Native to Central America, the plant was introduced to Asia during World War II for the purpose of camouflaging airfield hangers. Chiu looks back at the history of Treasure Hill, most notably its use as a military base and how its inhabitants would later rebuild their lives there.
■ Treasure Hill Artist Village (寶藏巖國際藝術村), 2, Ally 14, Ln 230, Dingzhou Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市汀州路三段230巷14弄2號), tel: (02) 2364-5313. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm
■ Until Dec. 4
Photo courtesy of MOCA
The Parisian-born Ivan Gros has lived a nomadic life, moving from France and Spain to Saudi Arabia and eventually to Taiwan in 2009 to study Chinese and teach French. His prints, inspired by his travels around the world, are on display at printmaking shop MBMore. 33 Tours (三十三座塔) includes a collection of Gros’ prints made during his time in Taiwan — mostly everyday depictions of people and families in scenes ranging from parks to construction sites, as well as iconic places like the hot springs in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) and beaches on Orchid Island.
■ MBMore (岩筆模), 275, Nanjing W Rd, Taipei City (台北市南京西路275號), tel: (02) 2558-3395. Open Tuesday to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Dec. 18
Photo courtesy of MBMore
On display at Art Issue Projects is Innercode vs Intercode (存在關係), a stellar lineup of works including Damien Hirst’s morbid sculptures, Marc Quinn’s psychedelic and suggestive paintings and South Korean artist Lee U-fan’s minimalistic-style paintings of blue lines. Lee was one of the pivotal figures in the development of the monochrome painting movement beginning in South Korea in the 1970s. The artistic style arose out of a need to reinterpret contemporary Western art through the lens of Korea’s own history and culture. The exhibition’s title alludes to a need to look deep within ourselves (“inner”), but also to see connections between ourselves and others and among different cultures (“inter).
■ Art Issue Projects (藝術計劃), 32, Ln 407, Tiding Blvd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市堤頂大道二段407巷32號), tel: (02) 2659-7737. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm
■ Until Dec. 31
Photo courtesy of MBMore
Photo courtesy of Eslite Gallery
Photo courtesy of Eslite Gallery
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not