Liou Jer-jyh’s (劉哲志) solo show, Brightness Comes from the Orient (光．來自東方), is currently on view at Taichung’s Huludun Cultural Center. The title of the exhibition is inspired by the sun’s rising in the east. In his paintings, Liou combines distinctively Eastern brushwork reminiscent of calligraphy and ink wash paintings with traditionally Western mediums, such as oil and watercolor, to form a new blend of aesthetics. Finer lines are juxtaposed with broad strokes or washes of color to allow viewers to feel relaxed while not losing the emotional tension within the works.
■ Huludun Cultural Center 2F Gallery II (葫蘆墩文化中心2樓展覽室II), 782 Yuanhuan E Rd, Taichung City (台中市圓環東路782號), tel: (04) 2526-0136. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5:30pm
■ Until Dec. 1
Photo courtesy of Bluerider Art
An Awakening Everyday Life: 20th Anniversary of Jiji Earthquake (甦醒的日常:九二一地震20週年展) looks back at more than 40 reconstruction efforts launched in the aftermath of the 7.6-magnitude 921 Earthquake. Hosted by Tainan’s Cultural Affairs Bureau and curated by Huang Sun-quan (黃孫權), the exhibition features, among other works, photography by Lee Kuo-min (李國民) and two documentaries: 2006’s An Encounter with Chungliao (在中寮相遇) by director Huang Shu-mei (黃淑梅) and 2005’s Three Fork Village (三叉坑) by director Chen Liang-feng (陳亮丰). An opening reception will be held at the Sinying Cultural Center at 1:30pm tomorrow, followed by a forum with the curator, Sediq Presbyterian pastor Watan Diro and Taiwan Indigenous Dinavun Development Association director Lin Chien-chih (林建治) from 2pm to 4pm.
■ Sinying Cultural Center (新營文化中心), 23 Jhongjheng Rd, Tainan City (台南市中正路23號), tel: (06) 6321-047. Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm
■ Until Nov. 17
Photo courtesy of Bluerider Art
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is exhibiting the works of the 38 recipients of this year’s Chung-Shan Youth Art Awards. The awards, given to artists aged 20 to 45, are divided into three categories: ink wash painting, calligraphy and oil painting. This year, organizers received 135 submissions. The jury included Lo Cheng-hsien (羅振賢), Edward Yeh (葉國新) and Su Hsien-fa (蘇憲法), among others. Wu Hung-chun (吳弘鈞), Wu Chi-lin (吳啟林) and Tsai Han-ting (蔡函庭) were each selected for a Chung-Shan Award, the top prize in each category. For the first time in the awards’ history, the winning works will also be displayed outside Taipei. After its Taipei run, the exhibition is scheduled to travel to the Tainan Art Museum before making stops at Taichung’s Dadun Cultural Center and Kinmen County.
■ Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Bo-ai Gallery (國立國父紀念館博愛藝廊), 505 Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段505號), tel: (02) 2758-8008. Open daily from 9am to 6pm
■ Starts Monday; until Nov. 20
Photo courtesy of Huludun Cultural Center
Bluerider Art is presenting Regarding Silences , a series of photographs from 2008 to this year by the Tel Aviv-based artist Ilit Azoulay. Azoulay captures a building in the northern Israeli town of Zikhron Ya’akov that was used by the Israeli army in 1974 to interrogate soldiers who had been taken prisoners in Egypt during the Yom Kippur War the previous year. As part of their interrogation, some of the former Israeli prisoners of war were forced to take drugs that caused them to relive the trauma they experienced, Azoulay says. Acting as archaeologist, archivist and artist, she records and pieces together the wreckage. For the series, she and her team also interviewed several of the veterans. Ironically, the building was later turned into a luxury hotel. Regarding Silences is, along with Implicit Manifestation (2013-2014) and No Thing Dies (2014-2017), one of three major projects in Azoulay’s career. The artist, whose works can be found in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Pompidou Center and the Israel Museum, among others, will be speaking about the projects during an artist talk, Behind All Projects, at the gallery from 2:20pm to 3:30pm tomorrow when the show opens. Registration is required via: www.accupass.com/go/ilitazoulay-talk.
■ Bluerider Art Ren-Ai Gallery (藍騎士藝術空間仁愛館), 10F, 25-1 Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City, (台北市仁愛路四段25-1號10樓), tel: (02) 2752-2238. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9am to 6pm
■ Starts tomorrow; until Dec. 28
Photo courtesy of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
YX Art Space presents Breathing as Time and Space (時空的呼吸), a solo exhibition by Liu Yung-jen (劉永仁). Liu’s oil paintings draw inspiration from memories of a childhood spent in Taitung County’s Chihshang Township (池上). His artwork is characterized by the colors yellow and orange that mix to recall the golden rice fields of his hometown. Under his brush, these scenes are transformed into large blocks of color and semi-abstract symbols. The gallery will be hosting an opening reception for the exhibition at 3pm on Sunday.
■ YX Art Space (有璽藝術空間), 26, Ln 136, Sanmin Rd, Taipei City, (台北市三民路136巷26號), tel: (02) 2761-2881. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am to 6pm
■ Starts Sunday; until Nov. 30
Photo courtesy of Huludun Cultural Center
Photo courtesy of Co-Art Co-Ops
During the Metal Ages, prior to the arrival of the Dutch and Chinese, a great shift took place in indigenous material culture. Glass and agate beads, introduced after 400BC, completely replaced Taiwanese nephrite (jade) as the ornamental materials of choice, anthropologist Liu Jiun-Yu (劉俊昱) of the University of Washington wrote in a 2023 article. He added of the island’s modern indigenous peoples: “They are the descendants of prehistoric Formosans but have no nephrite-using cultures.” Moderns squint at that dynamic era of trade and cultural change through the mutually supporting lenses of later settler-colonialism and imperial power, which treated the indigenous as
By 1971, heroin and opium use among US troops fighting in Vietnam had reached epidemic proportions, with 42 percent of American servicemen saying they’d tried opioids at least once and around 20 percent claiming some level of addiction, according to the US Department of Defense. Though heroin use by US troops has been little discussed in the context of Taiwan, these and other drugs — produced in part by rogue Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) armies then in Thailand and Myanmar — also spread to US military bases on the island, where soldiers were often stoned or high. American military policeman
An attempt to promote friendship between Japan and countries in Africa has transformed into a xenophobic row about migration after inaccurate media reports suggested the scheme would lead to a “flood of immigrants.” The controversy erupted after the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, said this month it had designated four Japanese cities as “Africa hometowns” for partner countries in Africa: Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania. The program, announced at the end of an international conference on African development in Yokohama, will involve personnel exchanges and events to foster closer ties between the four regional Japanese cities — Imabari, Kisarazu, Sanjo and
The Venice Film Festival kicked off with the world premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia Wednesday night on the Lido. The opening ceremony of the festival also saw Francis Ford Coppola presenting filmmaker Werner Herzog with a lifetime achievement prize. The 82nd edition of the glamorous international film festival is playing host to many Hollywood stars, including George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Dwayne Johnson, and famed auteurs, from Guillermo del Toro to Kathryn Bigelow, who all have films debuting over the next 10 days. The conflict in Gaza has also already been an everpresent topic both outside the festival’s walls, where
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