IT Park Gallery, an innovative art gallery devoted to highlighting the weird and bizarre, from sound, video and interactive art is currently showcasing Tape Music 2004-2013 (磁帶音樂), a solo exhibition by the Beijing-based Taipei native Lin Chi-wei (林其蔚). Do not be fooled into thinking you can go there and listen to some lovely, high-techy sounds in an empty room though, because the exhibition relies heavily on audience interaction. A 120m long-tape with embroidered instructions beckons visitors to respond to questions and the end product is a result of each participant’s fruitful labor.
■ IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 2F-3F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街41號2-3樓). Open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm. Tel: (02) 2507-7243
■ Until Jan. 17
Photo Courtesy Soka Art Center
Tao Fa Solo Exhibition (陶發個展) consists of a small collection of artworks by the Yunnan-born-and-raised Chinese artist Tao Fa (陶發). On display at the Taipei branch of Soka Art Center, which houses contemporary Taiwanese and Chinese art, it includes the young artist’s colorful and whimsical abstract oil paintings where animal and nature motifs feature prominently. His paintings, although one-dimensional, transport viewers to a state of sublime primitiveness which is pure, simple and aesthetically pleasing.
■ Soka Art Center (索卡藝術中心), 2F, 57, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段57號2樓), tel: (02) 2570-0390. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm
■ Until Jan. 18
Photo Courtesy of Liang Gallery
Specters of the Past (歷史幽魂) is a joint exhibition at Chi-Wen Gallery featuring some notable pieces of sound and video artwork from prominent artists in the field. Themes of suppression, colonization and confronting authority are heavily present in the various artworks. The exhibition includes outspoken social critic and artist activist Yao Jui-chung’s (姚瑞中) video Long Long Live (萬萬歲). The video critiques the Chinese National Party’s (KMT) handling of the Taiyuan prison uprising in 1970 in Taitung County. Also in the exhibition’s lineup is Jawshing Arthur Liou’s (劉肇興) screen installation Saga Dawa. Meaning “fourth month” on the Tibetan calendar, Saga Dawa is an important Tibetan Buddhist festival. Liou’s installation serves as a reminder of the volatile political situation in Tibet as police increasingly crackdown on religious festivities. Finally, End Transmission is short sci-fi film made by Chen Yin-Ju (陳瀅如) and American-born artist James T. Hong (洪子健). It tells the tale of an alien civilization that has come to colonize the earth.
■ Chi-Wen Gallery (其玟畫廊), 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓), tel: (02) 8771-3372. Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11am to 7pm
■ Until Jan. 31
Photo Courtesy of Chi-Wen Gallery
The Nantou-born artist Chang Tsui-jung (張翠容) currently has a solo exhibition at Taipei’s Liang Gallery. Entitled Symphony of Four Seasons (四季交響詩), her artwork is inspired by the changing seasons in Taiwan. Chang, who is critical of the negative effects that technology has on the environment, chooses to paint idealistic nature scenes of Taiwan such as waterfalls and mountains. She mixes western impressionistic styles with a more gentle Chinese touch which captures the delicate details of every trunk, bird or fruit enjoying nature’s abundance.
■ Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心), 366 Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路366號), (02) 2797-1100, open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm
■ Until Feb. 8
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