Curating an art exhibition is a lot like hosting a dinner party. In the latter, the host takes great care to see that guests are seated in an order that leads to a dynamic and provocative conversation. If the arrangement isn't up to snuff, neither is the party. So it is with an art exhibition, which is about much more than just hanging paintings on a wall. The curator must create a provocative dialogue between the artworks and viewers.
These days, independent curating is emerging as a challenging new field. In the past, there was no such thing as an independent curator. Instead, museum directors would organize an exhibition using their museum's collection or borrowed works. But over the past few decades there has been a shift in the art world, with critics, artists, and academics working as freelance curators in conjunction with museums or institutions. Often the curator starts with a theme and selects a roster of artists to elaborate on the idea. Then the curator must raise funds, organize a catalog and design the exhibition's layout. It's not the most lucrative job in the world, but many enjoy the challenge and intellectual stimulation.
Recognizing the importance of this emerging field and the need to help local curators create exhibitions from scratch, the National Culture and Arts Foundation each year hands out grants — which it calls Production Grants to Independent Curators in Visual Arts — so that deserving applicants can organize their own shows.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TFAM
Curator Amy Cheng received one for Altered States, on view at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum until Sept. 3. Her theme is that many of us are living on the edge in a complex world where boundaries are not as clearly defined as they were in the past. One's sense of self is hazy, one's place in the world is not always clear. With this in mind, Cheng matched 10 artists, using works ranging from photographs, film and video to paintings and installations.
Two pieces really stand out. Chen Chieh-jen's (陳界仁) riveting new film Ongoing is a poetic recollection of Taiwan's continued existence as a colony. Filmed in an old factory, the video shows a young man printing out radical handbills, using slow-motion photography to convey the sense of paralysis and inertia that the artist feels towards his country's status.
The second, Anri Sala's video Mixed Behavior, is a good example of this internationally known artist's work because it takes time to figure out whether what the viewer is seeing is fiction or reality. In a city scene, rockets burst overhead at night. It looks like a war, but what's being viewed is a fireworks display.
Another NCAF award recipient is curator Sandy Lo Hsiu-chih (羅秀芝), whose exhibition Exorcising Exoticism is being shown at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi New Life Square until Aug. 13. It brings together artists from around the world who comment on fashion and history. One question the exhibition inadvertently raises is: Can art compete in an environment of slick high-fashion advertising?
A new exhibition that is not an NCAF grant winner, is a gallery show that opens on Saturday called The Age of Anxiety, which showcases the engaging videos of artists Tsui Kuang-yu (崔廣宇) and Peng Hung-chih (彭弘智).
Tsui's humorous videos are of a spirit similar to that of the silent film era, and he uses the city as his canvas on which he displays his spectacle-like works.
Peng will show new pieces that deal with conflicting religious beliefs and are sure to hit a raw nerve. In one video, a dog licks a wall. Suddenly, Arabic letters appear describing scenes of death and destruction. You'll be shocked when you find out what the texts actually say, a sure sign of a meaningful work of art.
Exhibition Notes:
What: Altered States
Where: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 181 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市中山北路三段181號)
Tel: (02) 2595 7656
When: Until Sept. 3
What: Exorcising Exoticism
Where: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi New Life Square, Hsinyi District, Taipei
When: Until Aug. 13
What: Age of Anxiety
Where: Chiwen Galley, 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓)
Tel: (02)8771 3372
When: Opens Saturday
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