VIEW THIS PAGE Appearing tonight at Witch House (女巫店) is Swedish a cappella group #Imerlin# as part of the Taiwan International A Cappella Festival. For more information on the festival, visit blog.roodo.com/tcmc. Tomorrow alt-rock band Peppermint (薄荷葉) takes to the stage, and on Sunday it’s the Free Breathing Ensemble (世界軌跡), a jazz group that explores Latin, Indian and Chinese folk music.
▲7, Ln 56, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段56巷7號). For more information, call (02) 2362-5494 or visit www.witchhouse.org
▲Performances start at 9:30pm. Restaurant/bar with queer/feminist bookstore and large collection of board games open 11am to midnight Sundays through Wednesdays; 11am to 1am Thursdays through Saturdays
▲Admission is NT$300 on evenings with music shows and includes one drink
Tonight Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) presents the RAY Band (雷樂隊), a trio of veteran session musicians who play power-rock originals and covers. Singer Waa Wei (魏如萱) makes an appearance tomorrow night. Her high-pitched wispy voice, cutesy delivery and indie-pop sensibility have earned her a following that will likely ensure a full house. On Sunday it’s OK Bomb and ska punk music from Shy Kick Apple.
▲B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1), next to Taipower Building (台電大樓). Call (02) 2368-7310 or visit www.riverside.com.tw for more information
▲Shows start at 9:30pm tonight and 9pm tomorrow and Sunday
▲Entry is NT$400 tonight, NT$450 tomorrow and NT$350 on Sunday
Dafu Jazz Quartet performs tonight at Sappho de Base, Taipei’s favorite late-night venue for impromptu jazz sessions. Black Sheep plays Texas-style blues tomorrow night. On Tuesday the Grace Jazz Trio plays a set, with an open jam afterwards, and on Wednesday it’s the Isiah Richardson Trio. Thursday night features singer-songwriter Dana Wylie and drummer and guitarist Jez Hellard.
▲B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1). Call (02) 2700-5411 (after 9pm) or visit www.sappho102.biz for more information
▲Performances begin at 10:30pm on weekends, 10pm on weekdays
▲No admission fee
Rock and pop cover outfit Soma plays tonight at Tone 56 Live Bar. Tomorrow it’s house band Loaded, which plays everything from “rock classics to today’s hits.” Every Sunday features a regular rotation of groups; this week it’s blues, funk, and soul outfit The Blues Vibrations.
▲1F, 56, Minquan E Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市民權東路三段56號1樓), near the corner of Fuxing North (復興北) and Minquan East (民權東) roads. Call (02) 2517-3869 for more information
▲Music shows go from 9:30pm to 12:30am tonight and tomorrow; 7:30pm to 9:30pm on Sundays
▲No admission fee
Every Wednesday night at the Cosmopolitan Grill there’s a blues open mic, held by the Blues Society on Taiwan and hosted by Torch Pratt. All are welcome to bring their instruments and sit in on guitar, bass, or drums.
▲1F, 218 Changchun Rd, Taipei City (台北市長春路218號1樓). Call (02) 2508-0304 or visit www.cosmo.com.tw for more information
▲Wednesday from 8pm to 11pm
▲No admission fee
Exhibitions
Masterpieces of Chin and Tang Dynasty Calligraphy (晉唐法書名蹟展). The exhibition puts together 15 calligraphic works inscribed by Chin and Tang dynasty calligraphers. Highlights include Tang Dynasty copies of Wang Hsi-chih’s (王羲之) three masterpieces, on display together for the first time.
▲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). Open Mondays through Sundays from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays until 8:30pm. Tel: (02) 2881-2021
▲Until Nov. 20
Whispers of Blended Shadows: The Art of Jerry Uelsmann (疊影絮語:傑利尤斯曼). Dubbed a magician of images, the radical surrealist photographer rose to fame in the US in the 1960s and is known for his practice of “post-visualization.” Employing traditional darkroom techniques as a kind of alchemy, the artist frees photography from the shackles of “representation of the real world” to convey psychological truths through symbolic, metaphoric and conceptual images. The exhibition displays 79 of Uelsmann works.
▲Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm and Saturdays until 8:30pm. Tel: (02) 2595-7656
▲Until Jan. 11, 2009
Rocks and Water — Solo Exhibition by Monika Kropshofer (水石之間 — 德國藝術家柯玫妮個展). Neither photography nor painting, Kropshofer’s art is a combination of the two. Taken during several trips around the world, the photos are painted over with layers of bright colors by the artist who explores the concepts of surface and space.
▲German Cultural Center Taipei (台北德國文化中心), 12F, 20, Heping W Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市和平西路一段20號12樓). Open Mondays through Fridays from 1pm to 8pm. Tel: (02) 2365- 7294
▲Until Nov. 11
New Germany Contemporary Art Exhibition (新德國當代藝術特展). The exhibition introduces visitors to the lasting influences of German expressionism, neo-expressionism and the New Leipzig School through the works of young German artists including Matthias Galvez, Martin Galle, David Ostrowski and Marcel Eichner.
▲AKI Gallery (也趣), 141 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路141號). Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 12pm to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2599-1171
▲Until Nov. 2
Hu Kun-jung’s Solo Exhibition (胡坤榮個展). A new series of Hu’s abstract paintings.
▲Main Trend Gallery (大趨勢畫廊), 209-1, Chengde Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市承德路三段209-1號). Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2587-3412
▲Until Nov. 8
The canonical shot of an East Asian city is a night skyline studded with towering apartment and office buildings, bright with neon and plastic signage, a landscape of energy and modernity. Another classic image is the same city seen from above, in which identical apartment towers march across the city, spilling out over nearby geography, like stylized soldiers colonizing new territory in a board game. Densely populated dynamic conurbations of money, technological innovation and convenience, it is hard to see the cities of East Asia as what they truly are: necropolises. Why is this? The East Asian development model, with
June 16 to June 22 The following flyer appeared on the streets of Hsinchu on June 12, 1895: “Taipei has already fallen to the Japanese barbarians, who have brought great misery to our land and people. We heard that the Japanese occupiers will tax our gardens, our houses, our bodies, and even our chickens, dogs, cows and pigs. They wear their hair wild, carve their teeth, tattoo their foreheads, wear strange clothes and speak a strange language. How can we be ruled by such people?” Posted by civilian militia leader Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), it was a call to arms to retake
This is a deeply unsettling period in Taiwan. Uncertainties are everywhere while everyone waits for a small army of other shoes to drop on nearly every front. During challenging times, interesting political changes can happen, yet all three major political parties are beset with scandals, strife and self-inflicted wounds. As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is held accountable for not only the challenges to the party, but also the nation. Taiwan is geopolitically and economically under threat. Domestically, the administration is under siege by the opposition-controlled legislature and growing discontent with what opponents characterize as arrogant, autocratic
When Lisa, 20, laces into her ultra-high heels for her shift at a strip club in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, she knows that aside from dancing, she will have to comfort traumatized soldiers. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, exhausted troops are the main clientele of the Flash Dancers club in the center of the northeastern city, just 20 kilometers from Russian forces. For some customers, it provides an “escape” from the war, said Valerya Zavatska — a 25-year-old law graduate who runs the club with her mother, an ex-dancer. But many are not there just for the show. They “want to talk about what hurts,” she