The Charismatic Rebirth of Yore is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (MOCA, Taipei). The group show takes a fresh look at the boundaries between different creative fields, by bringing together works by 13 artists, designers and craftsmen from Hong Kong and Taiwan. “The goal [of art] is to break free from previous categorization of art and return it to life. [I]t is an attempt to … perceive this world from a new perspective,” writes the museum. The show includes works of fashion, lifestyle aesthetics, traditional craftwork and contemporary art. The five Hong Kong artists present works from a collective project in which they apprentice themselves to old craft masters in Hong Kong. Singchin Lo’s (盧聲前) Pass and Present (給‧與現在) is a highly ornamental installation that incorporates traditional ceramic patterns into wallpaper and clothing designs. Koyo William Cheung’s (張國威) Finding Balance in Life is a pair of conceptual dresses inspired by the natural cycle of life and death. In this work, Cheung draws on the traditional Chinese concepts of yin and yang, and interprets the five elements with gold leaf, metal, glass, plastic and tree branches.
■ Museum of Contemporary Art (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) 2559-6615. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Until June 15
Photo Courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art
Artist Wu I-chien (吳怡蒨) creates paintings and mixed media works that address the culture of medical practices and pill consumption in Taiwan. Wu considers herself an artivist, a portmanteau of art and activist, to describe creative practices with a strong emphasis on community engagement and social change. Wu says that Taiwanese, particularly the elderly, excessively stock up on drugs and accumulate substantial collections at home. “Keeping medicine close is as comforting as having candies in their pockets, while purchasing drugs is satisfying like shopping in the malls,” says the artist. Wu’s solo exhibition, Bitter & Sweet II, at Nunu Fine Art features a selection of drawings, paintings and installations that focus on the commercialization of pills and the dangers of their misleading packaging. “Taking pills is no longer a painful and serious deal. Bottles displayed in pharmacies are no longer made in plain white, but are now covered in colorful packaging, boosting people’s desire to purchase through visual stimulation,” writes the gallery. Show highlights include a huge installation of packaged drugs juxtaposed with candies and snacks. The drugs are arranged like small product mountains and firework formations that create an ominously joyful and celebratory impression of drugs sold over the counter.
■ 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, or by appointment
■ Until June 24
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art
The Sisyphus Ver. 20.18 (薛西弗斯Ver. 20.18) is a group exhibition of video, performance, installation, sound, text and digital media by 12 international and local artists who share an interest in the politics and technologies of labor. The title refers to the Greek mythological story of Sisyphus, who was condemned to eternity to repeat the task of pushing a rock up a mountain. Expanding on the story’s theme of redundancy, the show “offers us new ways to look at contemporary issues and positions of ambivalence that otherwise remain a complex conundrum at their best, or depressive burdens at their worst,” writes curators Francis Almendarez, Lin Yi-chun (林怡君) and Wang Hsuan (王萱). Participating artists are described as laborers, producers and creators who reflect on their life and the value of their work in relation to different contexts of history, memory and technology. Chen Chun-yu’s (陳俊宇) Anti-V.O.C 2018 is an interactive installation consisting of two upright pianos and a projection of the English flag. Shane McCarthy’s Fourier Analysis for Bird Watchers is a single channel video that includes associations of machine-to-machine communication.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立臺灣美術館), 2, Wucyuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號), tel: (04) 2373-3552. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm.
■ Until July 22
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art
Organized by the Taitung government, The Hidden South is an art project that seeks to engage the residents of four local townships and 20 artists in a program of cultural exchange. The project aims to reinvigorate local communities and industries through cultivation of its rich culture and heritage. The participating artists are immersed in various cultural activities in each township and create site-specific works that speak to that area’s natural habitat and local traditions. The projects are dotted along Provincial Highway 9, and a project information center near Taitung County’s Dawu (大武) station. Anne-Flore Cabanis’ Two Color Gradients is a 25-meter long outdoor installation of colorful elastic strips arranged in a gradual transition between eight different colors. The installation, illuminated by natural sunlight and the wind, encourages the contemplation of space and time. Luxury Logico’s Rebirth is a large mountainous installation made of concrete poles and steel bars salvaged from a betel nut farm, which was damaged by a typhoon. The work, according to the artist collective, will raise awareness about natural disasters and address the over-excavation of limestone in eastern Taiwan. Dexter Fernandez’s Vuvu & Vuvu is a mural that integrates artistic elements of the Paiwan tribe. The term vuvu refers to the elderly in Paiwan language.
■ Along Provincial Highway 9 (台九線) in Taitung. Exhibition sites include Daren Township (達仁), Jinfeng Township (金峰), Dawu Township (大武) and Taimali Township (太麻里). Please contact The Hidden South Information Center for details: www.facebook.com/thehiddensouth2018
■ Until Sept. 1
Photo Courtesy of Nunu Fine Art
The Hsinchu City Art Gallery is currently holding a group exhibition, Love in a Fallen City (傾城之戀). Organized by guest curator Hsiao Yu-chih (蕭有志), the show examines the city as an organic organism, where residents develop an intimate bond with their living spaces and. Hsiao adds that artists who draw inspiration from their surroundings tend to develop deep affection for their places of residence. The show features seven Taiwanese artists from different cities who “capture, create and modify” images inspired by “their love for their cities,” writes the gallery in a press release. Chen Po-i’s (陳伯義) Li-Hao Motel is a series of photos that document the demolition of buildings in a once bustling commercial area of Tainan. The many hotel rooms decorated with Chinese motifs show the trending aesthetics of the past. Graffiti artist Candy Bird and curator Hsiao collaboratively present Street Explorer, a multi-functional mobile house furnished with typical features of Taiwanese street vendors, including a gas tank, water heater, motor-bike and radio. Chung Shun-lung’s (鐘順龍) Civilized Landscape — The Marker is a series of photographs that chronicles the process of public construction. “[Chung’s] images not only combine violence and the aesthetics of artificiality, but also the human desire for a better future,” writes the gallery.
■ Hsinchu City Art Gallery (新竹市美術館), 116, Jhongyang Rd, Hsinchu City (新竹市中央路116號), tel: (03) 531-9756. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm
■ Until July 29
Photo Courtesy of The Hidden South
Photo Courtesy of Hsinchu City Art Gallery
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