Yu Cheng-ta (余政達) uncovers realities of the art world at solo film show Practicing Live. His titular video stars real-life professionals in the art industry: an artist, a Japanese collector, a critic, the director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and others who were asked to play a version of themselves. In a film that starts with a benign family celebration, these characters present the complicated dynamics of the industry and the conditions of production that today’s artists face.
■ 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. Admission: NT$30
■ Opens tomorrow. Until Sept. 21
Photo courtesy of A Gallery
Using black ink and a small bamboo brush, Hong Kong’s Winnie Mak (麥翠影) makes elegant and hyper-detailed illustrations of flowers, trees and landscapes, currently on view at a solo show called Lines and Beyond.
■ A Gallery (一畫廊), 22, Alley 36, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷36弄22號), tel: (02) 2702-3327. Open Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 6pm
■ Opening reception tomorrow at 3pm. Until Sept. 13
Photo courtesy of Aki Gallery
Marie Laurencin is a large-scale retrospective featuring the 20th-century Parisian painter. About 100 pieces on loan from Japan’s Musee Marie Laurencin are on view. After a brief career in Cubism, Laurencin developed a soft and delicate technique that embraced pink and made her a popular portraitist among prominent contemporaries like Coco Chanel.
■ Zhong Zheng Art Gallery (中正藝廊) at National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, tel: (02) 2343-1100. Daily from 9am to 6pm. Admission: NT$250
■ Until Oct. 12
Hope Has A Place (靈光‧山水) is a meticulously designed solo exhibition by South Korean ink wash artist Purume Hong. Hong received her MFA from National Taiwan Normal University and obtained her PhD in art therapy in South Korea. In this show, Hong frames her monochrome ink landscapes with light and shadow, sounds, natural fragrance and other sensory signals to create a space of contemplation for viewers.
■ 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
■ Until Sept. 7
Synesthesia (聯覺) is a group show by three artists that tries to awaken a temporary synesthesia, a rare neuro-physical condition that causes a person to make extraordinary connections between senses, for example hearing a sound in reaction to seeing a color. Japanese oil painter Soya Asae portrays water vapor, striving to evoke not just visual appearance but its temperature, humidity, odor and sound. Liang Gu (顧亮) from China issues dainty watercolors of pens and a spoon to bring a Zen calm to viewers, while Kumi Machida stacks thin lines to set off the audience’s feelings of tension and alienation.
■ 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 August 24
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
Dec. 8 to Dec. 14 Chang-Lee Te-ho (張李德和) had her father’s words etched into stone as her personal motto: “Even as a woman, you should master at least one art.” She went on to excel in seven — classical poetry, lyrical poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, chess and embroidery — and was also a respected educator, charity organizer and provincial assemblywoman. Among her many monikers was “Poetry Mother” (詩媽). While her father Lee Chao-yuan’s (李昭元) phrasing reflected the social norms of the 1890s, it was relatively progressive for the time. He personally taught Chang-Lee the Chinese classics until she entered public
Last week writer Wei Lingling (魏玲靈) unloaded a remarkably conventional pro-China column in the Wall Street Journal (“From Bush’s Rebuke to Trump’s Whisper: Navigating a Geopolitical Flashpoint,” Dec 2, 2025). Wei alleged that in a phone call, US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi not to provoke the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over Taiwan. Wei’s claim was categorically denied by Japanese government sources. Trump’s call to Takaichi, Wei said, was just like the moment in 2003 when former US president George Bush stood next to former Chinese premier Wen Jia-bao (溫家寶) and criticized former president Chen
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
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