In the new Program X-Site, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum will bring a landscape installation to its central plaza every spring. The 2014 inaugural installation is Landscape of the Boundary (邊緣地景) by C.J.S. Architecture-Art Studio, selected from 29 submissions. This winning work — a riff on the temporary scaffolding at construction sites — is a gridded building that pedestrians can explore. Force applied to the floor gently bounces back, creating for the visitor an otherworldly sensation. Made with local moso bamboo (毛竹) and makino bamboo (桂竹), this structure will fade over time from deep green to light tan, mimicking a natural landscape that changes with the seasons.
■ Plaza of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 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. General admission: NT$30
■ Opens tomorrow. Until June 29
Photo courtesy of TFAM
Everyone is A Mirror of Mine (每個人都是我的一面鏡子) is Chinese photographer Zhang Bojun’s (張博鈞) solo show about loneliness in China. Over the course of seven years, Zhang photographed faces in the crowds on city streets. As China rapidly industrializes, more migrants are drawn to the cities, where they work and reside yet never quite became full citizens, Zhang writes in the gallery notes. For his solo show, he digitally alters thousands of crowd images, shrinking faces and combining shots into large colorful textile-like blocks bearing patterns that arise from individual alienation — a visual metaphor for a deepening trend in contemporary Chinese society. The opening reception includes a lecture by former Taiwan Photo Fair chairman Chiu I-chien (邱奕堅) tomorrow at 2:30pm.
■ 1839 Contemporary Gallery (當代藝廊), B1, 120 Yanji St, Taipei City (台北市延吉街120號B1), tel: (02) 2778-8458. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 8pm. Free admission
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 2:30pm. Until May 25
Photo courtesy of VT Artsalon
I Fiori E Il Sole (鮮花和陽光是唯一讓生活可以忍受的美女) is a solo exhibition by artist Brigitta Rossetti , who works with literary themes. In Liber, a paean to the printed book, she converts three antique copies of Dante’s Divine Comedy into art pieces, installing them into a wall and making ornate butterflies with its yellowed pages. Each wing is devised to frame passages of text, which are chosen to remark on the role of books in a free society. Rossetti also presents three series — Sounding Flowers, Imaginary Flowers and Fiore Di-versi — that use texts as props in a floral landscape to tell a story. Rossetti is an Italian poet and visual artist based in Chicago and Milan.
■ Bluerider Art, 9F, 25-1, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (北市仁愛路四段25-1號9樓), tel: (02) 2752-2238, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Opens Sunday. Until May 27
Remaster and Appropriating the Classics (復辟 vs 挪用經典) is a joint Hong Kong-Taiwan show that brings together artists who play with classic ink wash techniques or historic themes. In Gough in the Valley (谷林歌賦圖), Tang Kwok Hin (鄧國騫) of Hong Kong uses a search engine to build a collage featuring “classic” icons like mountain and water. Chen Chin-Yao (陳浚豪) gives an update to famous Taiwanese political portraits, while Chang Li-Ren (張立人) reinvents women from familiar paintings.
■ VT Art Salon (非常廟藝文空間), B1, 17, Ln 56, Xinsheng 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 Fridays from 11:30am to 7pm, Saturdays from 1:30pm to 9pm, closed Sundays and Mondays
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 7pm. Until May 10
Taiwan Black Jade Exhibition: A Unique New Breed of Gems (惜墨如玉：新品種寶石) is an introduction to a lesser-known jade indigenous to Taiwan’s East Rift Valley. Black jade, a specimen that takes three times as long to form, appears partially dark and contains veins of emerald and gold. The exhibition spotlights artistry that takes advantage of black jade’s semi-opaque property, such as thin tea cups that allow light to shine through and illuminate the interior. It also provides an introduction to the development of black jade and properties of other precious minerals in Hualien and Taitung.
■ GG02, National Taiwan Museum (臺灣博物館), 2 Xiangyang Rd, Taipei City (臺北市襄陽路2號), tel: (02) 2382-2566, open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9:30am to 5 pm
■ Until Jan. 25
Taiwan, once relegated to the backwaters of international news media and viewed as a subset topic of “greater China,” is now a hot topic. Words associated with Taiwan include “invasion,” “contingency” and, on the more cheerful side, “semiconductors” and “tourism.” It is worth noting that while Taiwanese companies play important roles in the semiconductor industry, there is no such thing as a “Taiwan semiconductor” or a “Taiwan chip.” If crucial suppliers are included, the supply chain is in the thousands and spans the globe. Both of the variants of the so-called “silicon shield” are pure fantasy. There are four primary drivers
The sprawling port city of Kaohsiung seldom wins plaudits for its beauty or architectural history. That said, like any other metropolis of its size, it does have a number of strange or striking buildings. This article describes a few such curiosities, all but one of which I stumbled across by accident. BOMBPROOF HANGARS Just north of Kaohsiung International Airport, hidden among houses and small apartment buildings that look as though they were built between 15 and 30 years ago, are two mysterious bunker-like structures that date from the airport’s establishment as a Japanese base during World War II. Each is just about
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
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