The National Palace Museum’s Expedition to Asia—The Prominent Exchanges between East and West in the 17th Century (亞洲探險記—十七世紀東西交流傳奇) features a selection of treasured artifacts, records and artworks that tell a rich tale of East and West exchange in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The show is a collaboration between seven local and international museums, drawing from the collections of the National Palace Museum, the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Umi-Mori Art Museum and the Museum of Oriental Ceramic, Osaka, Japan, the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government, the National Taiwan University Library and the Graduate Institute of Art History of National Taiwan University. The 17th Century marks a time of great change in China; the Manchurians overthrew the Ming dynasty mid century to establish the Qing Dynasty, while Western merchants and missionaries continued to assert increasing influence in the country. The Dutchmen, in particular, “owned the crowning glory among all Western visitors that were trading with the East,” writes the museum. “They had not only delivered the knowledge and merchandise from Asia back to Europe, but also had become [its] crucial transporter.” The exhibition focuses on the Dutch envoys in China, records of their journeys and art objects that reflect exchange between the East and West.
■ 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 8:30am to 6:30pm; closes at 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays
■ Until March 10
Photo Courtesy of Miniature Life
Books in the Palm of Your Hand (古人掌中書) is a curious show of ancient pocket-sized books from the collection of the National Palace Museum. The first records of miniature books in China date back to the Southern Qi Dynasty (479-502) . Known as kerchief-box editions (巾箱本), these publications were designed to fit in small portable chests that the literati used to store head kerchiefs and accessories. Such books were popular among the royalty who transcribed classic books of history, philosophy and literature into smaller editions for convenient storage and portability. By the Tang and Song dynasties, the invention of woodblock printing gave birth to the rise of publishing and book trade businesses that reproduced kerchief-box editions by greater number and wider scope. Aside from the standard literary classics, pocket size editions of poetry and lyrics, examination preparation materials, travel guides, novels and dramas and medical records were known to be printed as well. The show not only presents miniature books from the Ming and Qing dynasties, it also offers an overview of the craft involved in creating them. “[Visitors] will also gain insight into how bibliophiles in historical China were sentimentally attached to books in their daily lives and on their travels, as well as the delight they took in appreciating their book collections.”
■ 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 8:30am to 6:30pm; closes at 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays
■ Until March 10
Photo Courtesy of National Palace Museum
Austrian artist Isabella Kohlhuber creates drawings, installations, sculpture and animations out of text. She is interested in how language communicates meaning and how this meaning can be interpreted and understood by the reader. She considers language as “crystalline structures of meaning” and works with the alphabet as both pictures and texts. In her series Typograms, she “lay[s] letter-like shapes over each other, creating specific images rather than sentences, but still referring to words as their original idea,” says the artist. In her exhibition preface, Kolhlhuber mentions her background in painting, graphic design and typography, with which she engages with language. “I am especially interested in the details of letter shapes and in what allows us to decipher their meanings…even though there are so many forms of letters …within one culture,” says Kohlhuber. ■ Bluerider Art (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 ■ Until Jan. 31 Photo Courtesy of National Palace Museum Tatsuya Tanaka (田中達也) is a Japanese sculptor and photographer who has gained a considerable following with his ongoing miniature series called Miniature Calendar. The project began in 2011 and continues to be updated everyday with various surreal scenes of tiny people living among gigantic daily items, such as ice cream cones, broccoli, croissants and yarn. In one scenario, two women graze a planet made of potato chips; in another, tiny workers look on from a tower of scaffolding as a corncob rocket lifts off from a bed of popcorn. An impressive selection of his works are currently on view in the exhibition Miniature Life Exhibition (微型展2.0) at Huashan 1914 Creative Park. The show includes 100 photographs and 40 sculptures that present familiar daily objects and our relationship with them. From narratives of nature, adventure, work, sports and family life, Tatsuya creates a micro-universe filled with humor and fantasy. ■ Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區), 1, Bade Road Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號), tel: (02) 2358-1914. Open Mondays to Fridays from 11am to 7pm, Saturdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm ■ Until March 3 Photo Courtesy of Bluerider ART Malang (山‧海 靈境 — Malang美的釋放) is a group exhibition of eight indigenous contemporary artists. The show includes oil paintings, textile, installation, sculpture and photography that “explores the cultural and historical contexts of indigenous societies and indigenous people’s reflections on life,” according to the exhibition preface. Yuma Taru is an Atayal artist and educator who creates fabric art that incorporates indigenous techniques of dyeing and weaving. River is a spread of interwoven yarn laid out like a flowing stream of colors. WalisLabai is an artist of Chinese and Seediq descent. WalisLabai has a background in computer graphic design and creates digital images and installations. He explores the meaning of modernity in indigenous art in his series Invisible Project, which includes portraits of tribesmen camouflaged in layers of greenery. ImingMavaliw is a Taitung artist from the Pinuyumayan community who creates abstract sculptors with driftwood. Penetration comprises of four pieces of driftwood standing upright, shot through with a wooden column. ■ Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂) 21, Zhongshan S Rd, Taipei City (台北市中山路21號), tel: (02) 2343 1100. Open daily from 10am to 6pm ■ Until March 17 Photo Courtesy of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial HallJoan Nieuhof, illustration from An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces (1665).
Isabella Kohlhuber, From the law (2018).
Exhibition view of Malang.
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
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