What's so lovable about Manray Hsu(許文瑞) and Hungjohn Lin (林宏章) is
that they can come up with the most long-winded and incomprehensible
babble-filled excuses to hold a party that can be found anywhere in
Taiwan. And in the end, they still have a party, or curate an art
exhibition, or just hold something weird. Last summer, for example, they
were responsible for a short string of all-night drum circles, film
festivals and philosophically justified bacchanalia held under the open
sky in Taipei's Whashang Arts District.
Tonight they're having the opening celebration for The Good Place(好地
方), an exhibition of Canadian and Taiwanese artists to be held in
Taichung's streets and commercial districts from Dec. 2 to Dec. 16. You
may note that the opening party and the exhibition are actually a
weekend apart, but that's not stopping them. In fact, there will be
another party next weekend on Dec. 2 for the actual opening.
Tonight, though, they will be outside again with a line-up that includes
an old Chinese man playing the erhu, Broadway-style tap dancing to the
sounds of a hip hop scracth artist, a performance by the band Milk,
music by DJ RainboWarrior (who, by the way, did a nice job last week
with the party atop Taichung's Jinsha Department Store) and works by two
video artists. Films by the Taiwanese duo Pitch Peach will kick in while
Milk is on stage, and films by Canadian Michael Snow will accompany
RainboWarrior.
According to Hsu, all this is supposed to express the "trans-site," or
"the notion of geographical space as a socio-cultural expression in the
context of globalization." In layman's terms, events surrounding The
Good Place will look at how two different cultures mix in the context of
Taichung, a place like every other with its own status quo.
And this will happen by staging performances (including one called "urban massage" and featuring works that spill out of the museums and
into everyday life. Tonight's events will be held outdoors from 7pm to
10pm in the plaza in front of the Taichung City Cultural Center (台中市
立文化中心), located at 600 Yingtsai Rd. (台中巿英才路600號).
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