Black Mist—Achiever of Light (黑色幻霧—光的成就者) is a solo exhibition of black sculptures inspired by the female figure. Contemporary sculptor Huang Ying-Pu (黃映蒲) has fashioned 22 pieces — including a pelvis, an ovary and a supine woman giving birth — that appear shrouded in shadow yet luminous, in an effort to reduce the female form to a primal maternal essence.
■ Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區), 33, Guangfu S Rd, Taipei City (台北市光復南路133號), tel: (02) 2765-1388, open daily from 10am to 9pm, free admission
■ Until Tuesday
Photo courtesy of VT Artsalon
The Art of Crafts (承薪．成藝) brings together works by five artists at the top of their field: tin sculptor Chen Wan-neng (陳萬能), woodcarver Shi Zhen-yang (施鎮洋), lacquer artist Wang Qing-shuang (王清霜), bamboo weaver Huang Tu-shan (黃塗山) and Shi Zhi-hui (施至輝), who specializes in gilded Buddha figurines. The exhibition also offers documentary screenings and workshops taught by the artists and their apprentices. To register, visit the Arts of Crafts Web site (Chinese only) at www.cichilife.com/aoc.
■ Bopiliao Old Street (剝皮寮歷史街區), 101 Guangzhou St, Taipei City (台北市廣州街101號), tel: (02) 2336-2798, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Dec. 15
Photo courtesy of Bureau of Cultural Heritage
The Sunday of Life (生命的禮拜天) celebrates the 100th birthday of Chang Yi-hsiung (張義雄), a Chiayi native who rose from poverty to become an acclaimed western-style painter. As a child Chang wanted to become an artist, but received little formal training due to financial hardship. Later in Japan, he cut paper silhouettes of passersby on the street to support himself. Learning mainly through trial and error, Chang riffs off western art movements such as Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Expressionism, applying them to everyday people and scenes of Taiwan. On view are representative works from Chang’s career, including his famed portraits of clowns.
■ 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 Feb. 9
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Lin Chien-jung (林建榮) is an installation artist best known for his “light bulb man,” a playful sculpture that turns its glass head like it’s pondering the deeper stuff of life. Lonely Island, A Self-Portrait (孤島，一種自我摹寫的狀態) is a more grotesque turn on introspection. Lin’s latest exhibition features a large gray rock that’s programmed to light up and dim rhythmically. The rock is a metaphor for the self; deeper inspection reveals nothing except slimed barnacles and black space.
■ VT Artsalon (非常廟藝文空間), B1, 17, Ln 56, 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
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 7pm, until Dec. 14
Paper artist Reiko Nireki visited Greater Taichung and Chiayi to observe the locals’ relationship with ancient forests. The Wishing Tree (許願樹) is her solo exhibition on Taiwanese tree culture. Using paper and sculpture, Nireki builds a forest at MOCA Studio that’s filled with totems of local rites, such as the red charms used on the birthday of the tree god. A second room is an ode to Japanese tree culture: An ornate tree is crafted out of wrinkled layered paper and marked with a branch, which in Shinto rites constitutes a wordless apology to a tree that’s destroyed for human use.
■ MOCA Studio, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (MOCA, Taipei), 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei City (台北市長安西路39號), tel: (02) 2552-3720. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission: Free
■ Until Dec. 22
April 14 to April 20 In March 1947, Sising Katadrepan urged the government to drop the “high mountain people” (高山族) designation for Indigenous Taiwanese and refer to them as “Taiwan people” (台灣族). He considered the term derogatory, arguing that it made them sound like animals. The Taiwan Provincial Government agreed to stop using the term, stating that Indigenous Taiwanese suffered all sorts of discrimination and oppression under the Japanese and were forced to live in the mountains as outsiders to society. Now, under the new regime, they would be seen as equals, thus they should be henceforth
Last week, the the National Immigration Agency (NIA) told the legislature that more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) risked having their citizenship revoked if they failed to provide proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration within the next three months. Renunciation is required under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), as amended in 2004, though it was only a legal requirement after 2000. Prior to that, it had been only an administrative requirement since the Nationality Act (國籍法) was established in
With over 80 works on display, this is Louise Bourgeois’ first solo show in Taiwan. Visitors are invited to traverse her world of love and hate, vengeance and acceptance, trauma and reconciliation. Dominating the entrance, the nine-foot-tall Crouching Spider (2003) greets visitors. The creature looms behind the glass facade, symbolic protector and gatekeeper to the intimate journey ahead. Bourgeois, best known for her giant spider sculptures, is one of the most influential artist of the twentieth century. Blending vulnerability and defiance through themes of sexuality, trauma and identity, her work reshaped the landscape of contemporary art with fearless honesty. “People are influenced by
Three big changes have transformed the landscape of Taiwan’s local patronage factions: Increasing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) involvement, rising new factions and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) significantly weakened control. GREEN FACTIONS It is said that “south of the Zhuoshui River (濁水溪), there is no blue-green divide,” meaning that from Yunlin County south there is no difference between KMT and DPP politicians. This is not always true, but there is more than a grain of truth to it. Traditionally, DPP factions are viewed as national entities, with their primary function to secure plum positions in the party and government. This is not unusual
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