Emerging artist Huang Zan-lun (黃贊倫) transforms the detritus of machines into sculptural installations in his solo show Stateless (無類). Questioning notions of progress and technology, Huang’s bizarre sculptures are imbued with emotionless, detached undertones that render his messages both ambivalent and alluring.
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), Taipei National University of the Arts (台北藝術大學), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市學園路1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm. Tel: (02) 2896-1000 X2432
■ Until May 16
Light and Shadow (光與影) is an exhibit of paintings by Chinese playwright, novelist and Nobel laureate Gao Xingjian (高行健). According to the exhibition blurb, Gao’s monochromatic ink paintings with abstract characteristics have “established a new ink wash painting style.” Perhaps a more accurate description would be that Gao’s paintings bring to the canvas the loneliness and despair that are found in his plays. The show also features a short film made by
the artist.
■ Asia Art Center (亞洲藝術中心) 177 Jianguo S Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市建國南路二段177號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2754-1366
■ Until May 9
Leather figures, paper cutting, hand shadows, films and digital figures are among the objects presented at The Exhibition of Shadow Art and Culture (照光弄影－影藝文化展), an exhibit that looks into the history and development of shadow play from its origins in China’s distant past to its contemporary manifestations in Taiwan. The show seeks to place shadow art in its proper context by showing the relationship between the images created and the performances they were a part of.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Tel: (02) 2361-0270. General admission is NT$30
■ Until Oct. 17
Post Exposure (後渙散) is a solo exhibit by Taiwanese video installation artist Huang Pei-ju (黃珮如) that reflects upon the liminality of human existence through the themes of light and darkness.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 2F-3F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號2-3樓). Open Tuesdays
to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm. Tel: (02) 2507-7243
■ Until Saturday
The New Renditions of Ink Painting (世紀新墨) is a retrospective of the works of China-born, Taiwanese ink painter Wu Hsueh-jang (吳學讓). Through paintings dating back almost 50 years, the show tracks Wu’s evolution as an artist from his early Chinese landscape painting to his later works influenced by abstract expressionism to his final period when he returns to his artistic roots.
■ National Chiao Tung University Library, B1 International Conference Hall (交大浩然圖書館B1國際會議廳), 1001 Dasyue Rd, Hsinchu City (新竹市大學路1001號). Open daily from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (02) 3322-2988
■ Until May 18
A white horse stark against a black beach. A family pushes a car through floodwaters in Chiayi County. People play on a beach in Pingtung County, as a nuclear power plant looms in the background. These are just some of the powerful images on display as part of Shen Chao-liang’s (沈昭良) Drifting (Overture) exhibition, currently on display at AKI Gallery in Taipei. For the first time in Shen’s decorated career, his photography seeks to speak to broader, multi-layered issues within the fabric of Taiwanese society. The photographs look towards history, national identity, ecological changes and more to create a collection of images
In 2020, a labor attache from the Philippines in Taipei sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding that a Filipina worker accused of “cyber-libel” against then-president Rodrigo Duterte be deported. A press release from the Philippines office from the attache accused the woman of “using several social media accounts” to “discredit and malign the President and destabilize the government.” The attache also claimed that the woman had broken Taiwan’s laws. The government responded that she had broken no laws, and that all foreign workers were treated the same as Taiwan citizens and that “their rights are protected,
A series of dramatic news items dropped last month that shed light on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attitudes towards three candidates for last year’s presidential election: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It also revealed deep blue support for Ko and Gou from inside the KMT, how they interacted with the CCP and alleged election interference involving NT$100 million (US$3.05 million) or more raised by the
March 16 to March 22 In just a year, Liu Ching-hsiang (劉清香) went from Taiwanese opera performer to arguably Taiwan’s first pop superstar, pumping out hits that captivated the Japanese colony under the moniker Chun-chun (純純). Last week’s Taiwan in Time explored how the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) theme song for the Chinese silent movie The Peach Girl (桃花泣血記) unexpectedly became the first smash hit after the film’s Taipei premiere in March 1932, in part due to aggressive promotion on the streets. Seeing an opportunity, Columbia Records’ (affiliated with the US entity) Taiwan director Shojiro Kashino asked Liu, who had
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