On Asphalt is a solo exhibition of video and installation by Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidanonto. Kuswidanonto’s work examines the “spaces where contestation, negotiations and juxtapositions among different cultures take place.” His new works take inspiration from The Great Post Road, a roadway built in Java in 1808 and serving as a route to distribute goods and people. This “urban culture” that resulted serves as the inspiration for the works on display.
■ Project Fulfill Art Space (就在藝術空間), 2, Alley 45, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷45弄2號), tel: (02) 2707-6942. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 1pm to 6pm
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 5pm. Until Sept. 16
Kalos Gallery (真善美畫廊) will hold a commemorative exhibition of work by Chen Ting-shih (陳庭詩). Chen’s prints, abstract paintings and metal sculptures blend Western abstract art forms with Eastern cultural sensibilities to create “a philosophical world that successfully portrays the essence of things beyond mere images,” according to the gallery’s press blurb.
■ Kalos Gallery (真善美畫廊), 269, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段269號), tel: (02) 2836-3452. Open daily from 10am to 6:30pm, closed Sundays
■ Opening reception on Saturday at 3pm. Until Sept. 8
Autumn Rustling (秋瑟) is a solo exhibition of painting by Tzeng Yong-ning (曾雍甯). Tzeng draws on his considerable skill in Chinese ink painting to produce a series of multicolor and monochrome landscapes that are visually calming.
■ Nou Gallery (新畫廊), 232, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段232號), tel: (02) 2700-0239. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Sept. 9
Meet Taipei gathers together 33 works of painting and sculpture by 21 Shanghai artists who the curators believe are representative of the city’s modern and contemporary art scene. Artists include Yan Peiming (嚴培明), Ding Yi (丁乙), Zhou Changjiang (周長江) and Li Xiangyang (李向陽) — artists who reveal that Shanghai is more than just a place to make a buck.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM, 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), tel: (02) 2595-7656. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm and until 8:30pm on Saturdays. Admission: NT$30
■ Until Sept. 16
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moving the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds before midnight last month symbolized the closest humanity has ever been to global catastrophe In this context, the legislature remains gridlocked over the general budget, mirroring tensions simmering across the globe. According to local soothsayers, this “extreme speed and violent conflict” is no coincidence as the Year of the Horse is the year of bingwu (丙午), the rare “Fire Horse Year” (火馬年) that occurs once every 60 years, a configuration carrying an energy that shapes everything from personal fortunes to international crises. “For some people, it can be a
Feb. 16 to Feb. 22 Pai Ko’s (白克) film career appeared poised to reach new heights in 1962 with the completion of the highly-anticipated, star-studded Romance of Longshan Temple (龍山寺之戀). Despite being mainly in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the film promoted harmony between those born in China and Taiwan, aligning with the official cultural policy at the time. However, he soon disappeared. Colleagues found out he was arrested and accused of colluding with communists. It was not his first run-in with the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). As a university student in China, he joined the anti-Japanese Anti-Imperialism League and
Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Feb. 15, through Sunday, Feb. 22, there will be no Features pages. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 23, when Features will also be resumed. Kung Hsi Fa Tsai!
Taiwan is especially vulnerable to climate change. The surrounding seas are rising at twice the global rate, extreme heat is becoming a serious problem in the country’s cities, and typhoons are growing less frequent (resulting in droughts) but more destructive. Yet young Taiwanese, according to interviewees who often discuss such issues with this demographic, seldom show signs of climate anxiety, despite their teachers being convinced that humanity has a great deal to worry about. Climate anxiety or eco-anxiety isn’t a psychological disorder recognized by diagnostic manuals, but that doesn’t make it any less real to those who have a chronic and