Chen Kun-feng’s (陳崑鋒) new series of paintings, Revive Mark II, examine memory, how it fades and becomes fallible over time and how the photographic image serves as a questionable proxy for direct experience — much as the above images only offer a partial representation of the actual paintings. Chen’s work also serves as a statement of how we perceive media and the loss of visual art, over the past half century, as a medium through which we come to know and evaluate the world. As the gallery’s exhibition blurb says, this allows Chen “to further explore possibilities other than media replacing subjects and objects in memory, attempting to provide a sense of reality in memory with supplements that are indescribable, uninvolved with actuality but precisely engaging ... where the true can not be told from the false.”
■ Galleria H, 40, Jingye First Rd, Taipei City (台北市敬業一路40號), tel: (02) 8502-6631. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 1pm to 7pm
■ Until April 14
Photo Courtesy of Galleria H
Photo Courtesy of Galleria H
Photo Courtesy of Galleria H
Photo Courtesy of Galleria H
The government released figures for October showing that, year on year, exports increased 49 percent to a record US$61.8 billion for the month. The dramatic increases were partly due to fall being the high season, but largely due to the AI boom driving demand for exports, which many investors fear is rapidly turning into a massive bubble. An editorial in this newspaper last month warned that the government should be ready in case the boom turns to bust. In previous boom-bust cycles, from shoes and textiles, through computer parts and accessories, to tools, bicycles and sporting goods, Taiwan has survived in
The Lee (李) family migrated to Taiwan in trickles many decades ago. Born in Myanmar, they are ethnically Chinese and their first language is Yunnanese, from China’s Yunnan Province. Today, they run a cozy little restaurant in Taipei’s student stomping ground, near National Taiwan University (NTU), serving up a daily pre-selected menu that pays homage to their blended Yunnan-Burmese heritage, where lemongrass and curry leaves sit beside century egg and pickled woodear mushrooms. Wu Yun (巫雲) is more akin to a family home that has set up tables and chairs and welcomed strangers to cozy up and share a meal
The second floor of an unassuming office building in central Bangkok is a strange place to encounter the world’s largest rodent. Yet here, inside a small enclosure with a shallow pool, three capybaras are at the disposal of dozens of paying customers, all clamoring for a selfie. As people eagerly thrust leafy snacks toward the nonchalant-looking animals, few seem to consider the underlying peculiarity: how did this South American rodent end up over 10,000 miles from home, in a bustling Asian metropolis? Capybara cafes have been cropping up across the continent in recent years, driven by the animal’s growing internet fame.
President William Lai (賴清德) has proposed a NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special eight-year budget that intends to bolster Taiwan’s national defense, with a “T-Dome” plan to create “an unassailable Taiwan, safeguarded by innovation and technology” as its centerpiece. This is an interesting test for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and how they handle it will likely provide some answers as to where the party currently stands. Naturally, the Lai administration and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are for it, as are the Americans. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not. The interests and agendas of those three are clear, but