The largest cultural exchange ever between Taiwan and China opened in Beijing yesterday with an exhibition of avant garde Taiwan-ese art.
"Visions of Pluralism: Contemporary Art in Taiwan, 1988-1999" by 75 Taiwanese artists is being shown at Beijing's Museum of Modern Art despite months of heightened tension.
Around 30 of the artists have come to the capital to show their works, some of which evoke Western pop art. One piece by Tang Huang-chen places two televisions beaming the same images opposite at each other.
Despite the crisis which erupted in July over President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) statement that Taipei-Beijing relations were conducted on a "special state-to-state" basis, the opening ceremony for the exhibition was formal, with China's vice minister of culture Meng Xiaosi attending.
"This exhibition had been planned for a year, well before the two-states theory row," explained Victoria Lu, a Taiwanese art critic and the show's curator. "We didn't know if it would go ahead or not, but the Taiwanese authorities were very supportive."
Although there are no official relations between the two governments, half of the show's cost was met by public funds from Taipei, Lu said.
Lin Cheng-chih (
"Culture is a means of dialogue that everybody understands," she said.
Lin cancelled his planned visit to Beijing at the last minute because of the 921 earthquake and not for political reasons, Lu said.
Exhibit organizers have done little to mask the fact that, except for a short period following World War II, the island has been politically separated from the mainland since the Japanese colonized it in 1895.
"Over 100 years of separation have generated undeniable differences between Taiwan and China," said Lu. "Separation from the mainland has endowed Taiwan with a very unique character and destiny."
She continued: "1988 was the beginning of a new era, in that it was the first year that the development of art became free from political control following the end of martial law in 1987."
The exhibition, which lasts 12 days, has received only sparse coverage by the mainland press.
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