Chu Chun-teng (朱駿騰) is showing his latest multi-channel video installation in his solo show August 15 (八月十五). The work is based on the disappearance of an elderly man. Chu started an investigation and uncovered security footage that caught the last sighting of the man. Recordings of his family recount their final moments with him and the ensuing search, while another part of the installation follows elderly people with mental disabilities around a nursing home. August 15 is a powerful conceptual work that examines the fragility of our mental state and raises awareness of dementia and mental wellbeing.
■ Meme Space (覓空間), 12F, 9, Roosevelt Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路二段9號12樓); tel: (02) 2396-5505. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am to 6pm
■ Until Sept. 23
Photo courtesy of the artist and National Museum of History
Kao Jun-honn (高俊宏) is showing his latest installations and video works in Abandoned Path: A Creator’s Geopolitical Method (棄路:一位創作者的地理政治之用). Kao’s practice is meticulous and carefully planned. In his 2014 video Dual 1984, he merged two separate events from the UK and Taiwan — an accidental explosion at a coal mine that killed many and news footage of coal mining strikes, as well as interviews with people who discuss both events. The result is an eerie statement about the politics of energy.
■ Asia Art Center I (亞洲藝術中心一館) 177, Jianguo S Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市建國南路二段177號), tel: (02) 2754-1366. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6:30pm
■ Until Sept. 24
Photo courtesy of the artist and Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts
Hsieh Mu-chi (謝牧岐) is showing new acrylic paintings in his solo show Unforgotten (忘山). Hsieh’s landscape paintings ponder the genre itself, where the mind of the artist is part of the scenery, and effectively distorting the boundary between reality and representation.
The solo exhibition I’m Here (我就在這兒) features a survey of Chinese artist Mao Xuhui’s (毛旭輝) oil paintings. As one of the pioneers of Chinese contemporary art, Mao represents abstract ideas and concepts — an overturned chair or scissors, for example, may represent death or loss of power. His works are melancholy, due in part to the tragic loss of his daughter.
Things Wholesale (好多事量販) is a solo show of Lee Ming-hsueh’s (李明學) conceptual installations. Fascinated by mass consumerism, Lee depicts candy, stationary, cleaning supplies and coins as elements of desire. By employing these seemingly benign objects, the artist questions the perception and reality of consumer culture among other issues.
Photo courtesy of Bluerider Art Gallery
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市學園路1號), tel: (02) 2896-1000 X 2432. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm
■ All exhibitions until Sept. 24
Swiss installation artist Marck will present mixed media installation works in The Box, his first solo show in Taiwan. Marck’s installations are made with LCD panels, sand, wood, electronic devices and steel are trade marks of Marck’s highly recognizable style. His integration of humans in mechanical environments questions the human condition and the relationship between humans and our inventions.
Photo courtesy of the artist and Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts
■ Bluerider Art Gallery (藍騎士藝術空間), 9F, 25-1, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段25-1號9樓), tel: (02) 2752-2238. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9am to 6pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow from 4-6pm. Until Oct. 28
Mind Roaming in Nature (自然心遊) is a solo exhibition by Lo I-hui, (羅一慧). Lo’s semi-representational landscapes suggest a natural environment that has been deteriorating.
Photo courtesy of In River Gallery
■ 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
■ Until Oct. 4
Lee Shien-wen (李賢文) is showing his ink paintings at the National Museum of History in a show titled Dreaming Back to Nature (返回自然之夢). Lee examines religious themes that are rendered in a simple style that is similar to illustration, offering a view of the natural world that is fresh and uplifting.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號), tel: (02) 2361-0270. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10 am to 6pm
■ Until Sept. 24
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