Those interested in film noir and whodunit novels will relish in Chen Wen-chi’s (陳文祺) black-and-white prints which are currently on display at Taipei’s VT Art Salon. The solo exhibition, entitled Authenticity Temporal Memory (偽日記), evokes the feeling of peering into a time portal — although the scenes captured are taken in the present day. Chen overlays letterpress printing techniques with black-and-white photography to achieve this rustic, mysterious facade. Trendy-looking urbanites from five Asian cities — Taipei, Kyoto, Tokyo, Shanghai and Bangkok — are pictured boarding trains and turning street corners. The subject matter is nothing out of the ordinary. Rather, it’s the way Chen plays with different elements like light and shadow, foreground and background, which gives his work a haunting touch. The objective is to confuse the viewer into thinking they are observing a different time period, thus placing concepts such as time and space in limbo.
■ VT Art Salon (非常廟藝文空間), B1, 47 Yitong St, Taipei City (台北市伊通街47號B1), tel: (02) 2516-1060. Open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 1:30pm to 9pm, and Fridays and Saturdays from 1:30pm to 10pm
■ Until March 28
Photo courtesy of Digital Art Center
Upstairs, Downstairs, Art Show Together (樓上．樓下．藝起展) is a joint exhibition at Taipei’s Yesart Air Gallery by Sophia Lin (林淑婷), Taipei-based Chinese artist Yolanda Pong (龎銚) and Lourdes Salcedo Tavira, who hails from Spain. While Lin’s paintings of delicate buds spewing out of tiny vases are more typically feminine, Pong’s use of overlapping black-grey brush strokes are bold and daring. Tavira’s paintings, on the other hand, are as primal as they are humorous — her little ladies made out of colorful shapes may not be conventionally beautiful, but they have a certain sassiness to them. The exhibition offers a taste of the wide spectrum that the vague and fluid concept of “femininity” can fall under.
■ Yesart Air Gallery (意識畫廊), 2F, 48, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 7, Taipei City (台北市中山北路七段48號2樓), tel: (02) 2876-3858. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 2pm to 8pm
■ Until March 29
Photo courtesy of Digital Art Center
Sometimes we need to escape from reality to ground ourselves again. Chou Tung-yen’s (周東彥) solo exhibition hones in on this simple idea. His wide-angle landscape videography shot from aerial perspectives helps us see how small our problems are in the large scheme of the physical world. As the camera lens zooms out, viewers feel as if they are lifted from the weight of the world. Escape, Chou believes, is not a bad thing per se, especially if we use it as reflective time. Named ESC—Escape Practice (ESC—暫離練習), after the escape key on a computer keyboard, the exhibition is currently on display at the Barry Room in Taipei Artist Village.
■ Barry Room, Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村百里廳), 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號), tel: (02) 3393-7377. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm
■ Until April 12
Photo courtesy of VT Art Salon
The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts is bringing visitors on an epic seafaring journey. A Voyage to South (海外展) visually catalogs immigration into and emigration out of Taiwan over the past few centuries through a collection maritime and travel-themed artwork by mostly contemporary artists. The exhibition shows how concepts of “home,” “local” and “foreign” are in constant flux. Various travelers have passed through Taiwan — Chinese, Western missionaries, the Japanese — and “locals” have left to build lives in other countries. In other words, Taiwan is used as an example to show that globalization is not as new as we would like to think.
■ Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (高雄市立美術館 KMFA), 80 Meishuguan Rd, Kaohsiung (高雄市美術館路80號), tel: (07) 555-0331. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm
■ Until April 26
Known for his award-winning photography of elaborate stage trucks with blinding neon lights used by traveling cabaret troupes around Taiwan, Shen Chao-liang (沈昭良) is back with another exhibition at the National Chengchi University Arts Center in Taipei. Organized by Aki Gallery (也趣藝廊), the latest installment of Stage (春分舞台) depicts scenes that are ever the more ostentatious – a stage truck rests behind rows of skewered pigs in one particular picture. Shen manages to aptly capture the traveling lives of the cabaret entertainers without photographing human subjects. The stages assume an eerie life of their own, illuminating desolate spaces. If you’re into the weird and the wacky, this exhibition is not to be missed.
■ National Chengchi University Arts Center, 5F Arts Space (國立政治大學藝文中心五樓藝文空間), 5F, 64, Zhinan Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市指南路二段64號5樓), tel (Aki Gallery): (02) 2599-1171 Open Mondays to Friday from 11am to 5pm
■ Until May 2
Young animator-artist Mores Zhan (張徐展) currently has a riveting solo exhibition at Taipei’s Digital Art Center entitled Black Contemporary Animation (自卑的蝙蝠). His animated Web site (www.mores-zhan.com), which will make your eyes cross and your insides jiggle, say much about the artist’s work itself. A cross between Edvard Munch, a pagan sacrifice ritual and a delightful dose of sexual innuendo, the paper dolls might be difficult for some to stomach. On the other hand, those who enjoy in-your-face grotesque humor, will absolutely appreciate the exhibition.
■ Digital Art Center (台北數位藝術中心), 180 Fuhua Rd, Taipei City (台北市福華路180號), tel: (02) 7736-0708. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Until May 3
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach. “Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on international affairs tells the Taipei Times, adding that Taiwan may become more cautious in its dealings with South Korea going forward. Taipei has called on Seoul to correct its electronic entry system, which currently lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan),” warning that reciprocal measures may follow if the wording is not changed before March 31. As of yesterday,
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On Thursday, former Taipei mayor and founder of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Seven others related to the case were also handed prison sentences, while two were found not guilty. It has been a bad week for the TPP. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) with suspicion of taking part in Beijing-directed election interference. Xu has strong links to the TPP, which once offered her a party list legislator nomination. Tuesday also
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
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