TEA/Super Connect presents robots and other techno art from 16 countries. Curated by Lin Shu-min (林書民), the exhibition includes Dirk from the Netherlands — a freakishly real automated hobo who can interact with people — and concerts by the Heart Chamber Orchestra. Each of the 12 classical musicians has a heartbeat sensor connected to a computer, which generates electronic sounds and visuals based on real-time biofeedback.
■ Gallery A2 and B2, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立臺灣美術館), 2, Wuquan W Rd Sec 1, Greater Taichung (台中市西區五權西路一段2號) tel: (04) 2372-3552, open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until Oct. 27
Photo Courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
On average, the Taipei employee works 2,282 hours a year, more than the worker in every Asian city besides Seoul, according to the Council of Labor Affairs. Are We Working Too Much (我們是否工作過量), a group exhibition that opens tomorrow, answers its title’s question in the affirmative, but then goes on to ask why we do it. Maybe it’s an old habit, says Hsu Che-yu (許哲瑜) with Sighing Flowers and Shamisen: scenes of Japanese occupation and a paper doll populace who make repetitive motions. Or maybe it’s really true we’re laboring in the pursuit of happiness. Riverbed Theater’s micro-play Six Feet Under — Ten Feet Above allows an audience of one to step away from mundane problems by walking into a “painting,” a world filled with forgotten dreams and new possibilities.
■ Eslite Gallery (誠品畫廊), 5F, 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei City (台北市松高路11號5樓), tel: (02) 8789-3388 ext. 1588. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Sept. 22
Photo Courtesy of Eslite Gallery
New Beginnings (從心出發‧藝鳴驚人) is a group show of artwork by prison inmates. Since 2006, the Agency of Corrections has organized annual art exhibitions to facilitate low-risk prisoners’ reintegration with society. As inmates prepare for the show, they gain opportunities to interact with the world beyond their facility and learn a craft that increases employability after completing their prison terms. This year the exhibition has over 100 pieces including rush-grass weavings, lacquer ware, Koji pottery, watercolor paintings and Chinese calligraphy.
■ Culture Gallery Corridor (文化藝廊) at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國立國父紀念館), 505, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (臺北市信義區仁愛路4段505號), tel: (03) 360-2975, open daily from noon to 8 pm
■ Until Sept. 1
Photo Courtesy of TIVAC
Sim Chang (張哲榕), winner of the Px3 Paris Photography Prize, brings candy-colored pieces featuring young women to his solo show Flat Flower (萌個展). Chang has converted real women into anime characters using outlandish costumes, quirky recurring props and masks, which are touchscreen tablets photoshopped over the face. Each doctored photo offers a version of reality that is more stylized, more beautiful and addicting. The cartoon betel-nut beauty in Pinang Girl is ready for adventure, and the ladies of After the End of the World have nary a hair out of place following a major industrial disaster.
■ Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (TIVAC — 台灣國際視覺藝術中心), 16, Alley 52, Ln 12, 16 Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市松山區八德路三段12巷52弄16號), tel: (02) 2577-1781. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11:30am to 7pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 4:30pm. Until Sept. 22
Un-words (話非話) offers a grab bag of video works by Tung Fu-chi (董福祺) and highlights the single element of sound. A trio of curators have disassembled the footage so that Tung, who speaks in his characteristic over-enunciating manner, is seen trying to communicate with a peculiar body language and a cyborg-like singsong.
■ VT Artsalon (非常廟藝文空間), B1, Ln 56, 17, Xinsheng N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生北路三段56巷17號B1), tel: (02) 2597-2525. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 1:30pm to 9pm
■ Until Aug. 31
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
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