Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中) wears many hats: curator, fine arts professor, critic, theater buff. He’s a graffiti artist, too, the one behind an R-rated mural captioned Taiwanese that made local headlines in 2011. In the solo exhibition Something Blue (小幻影), Yao adds photography to the list, presenting 35 hand-developed images of Taiwan he took between 1992 and 2012. The set is about the desolation and shiftlessness of society, a theme that loosely connects Yao’s eclectic oeuvre. Also at the exhibition are personal and professional notes that offer rare context into the artist’s work.
■ TKG+ Projects Taipei, B1, Ln 548, 15 Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市內湖區瑞光路548巷15號B1), tel: (02) 2659-0798, open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10am to 7pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Oct. 20
Photo courtesy of Tina Keng Gallery
To Dream in Flowery Bowers: 2013 Flower Arrangement Exhibition (花鄉逐夢—2013中華插花藝術展) is an annual show of classic Chinese flower arrangements, co-organized since 1984 by the Chinese Women Orchid Art Association and the Chinese Floral Arts Foundation. This year, artists were challenged to make floral art that does not use pots, an unorthodox restriction that leaves the flowers without their usual repository for water.
■ National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號), tel: (02) 2361-0270. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. General admission: NT$30
■ Opens today. Until Oct. 27
Photo courtesy of National Museum of History
Japanese silkscreen artist Mitsuo Kim brings two series, Laokoon Group Sculptures and row, to the solo exhibition SWTICH. In a departure from classic serigraphy, he uses paraffin wax to whip up what is otherwise a two-dimensional image.
■ Aki Gallery (也趣藝廊), 141 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路141號), tel: (02) 2599-1171. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 6:30pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 3pm. Until Oct. 27
Enchanting Bridges of the World (千橋百媚) is the winners’ gallery for Yang Ming Cultural Foundation’s contest on photos depicting scenes or cultures of bridges. Panelists chose 120 photos of classic bridges out of about 4,000 submissions. Top prize in Bridges of the World category went to Chen Pei-ru’s (陳姵如) work on London’s Tower Bridge. In the Bridges of Taiwan category, the gold went to the Xindian Creek (新店溪) and New Taipei Bridge (新北大橋) by Huang Hsiao-si (黃孝思).
■ Cai Yu Art Gallery (采玉藝廊), National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂), tel: (02) 2343-1100, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Opens tomorrow at 2pm. Until Oct. 31
Interpretation between Virtual and Reality (虛實演繹) is a solo exhibition by Huang Chin-hua (黃錦華), an ink painter who says stones are the mainspring of her creativity. Some of her works, like Big Stone, are literal stones that are first outlined with sharp strokes and then painted over gently until it’s smooth and mossy — a metaphor for how real stones come to be. Other paintings appear to be more fanciful interpretations of the stone: Self Portrait is a floating island that, like the stone, attempts to “condense the universe into one single object,” as Huang writes in the gallery notes.
■ 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
■ Until Oct. 26
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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