Since 2013, the Cultural Bureau of the Tainan City Government has been organizing Next Art Tainan, an annual art competition that collaborates with local galleries and art fairs to promote exceptional young artists. This year, 10 pairs of emerging and established artists from Taiwan, the UK and Norway are selected to exhibit their works at the 2019 Next Art Tainan exhibition entitled Invisible Dimensions ([不]可見的維度). The show is spread across 10 galleries in Tainan. Show highlights include the works of Huang Yen-hsun (黃彥勳), a young artist who explores ideas of eternity through painting, installation and video art; Sutapa Biswas, a British Indian conceptual artist who creates drawings, paintings and films that address the human condition and collective histories; Kao Chun-hung (高俊宏), an established artist and filmmaker concerned with the relationship between space, politics and memory in the context of contemporary society; and Hung Yu-hao (洪譽豪), a Taipei-based new media artist whose works straddle virtual and physical representations of space.
■ Mumu Gallery (木木藝術), Da Xin Museum (大新美術館), Asir Art Museum (甘樂阿舍美術館), Der-Horng Art Gallery (德鴻畫廊), 182 Art Space (么八二空間), Absolute Space for the Arts (絕對空間), InArt Space (加力畫廊), Mizuiro Workshop (水色藝術工坊), Aglow Art Space (醉美空間) and Soka Art Center Tainan (台南索卡藝術中心). For complete venue details, please visit: next-art.tainan.gov.tw/
■ Until Dec. 14
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Organized by Fubon Art Foundation, Taipei’s annual art festival Very Fun Park (粉樂町) is on view at four indoor and outdoor locations in Xinyi District (信義). This year’s theme of inter-relatedness refers to the myriad pathways, circuits and relationships that make up Taipei. The festival asks how art can intervene in a commercial district and provide alternative ways of engaging with one’s surroundings. The show includes eight artists from Taiwan and abroad. Jeppe Hein is a Danish artist who creates interactive sculptures, including a series of unique outdoor benches that explore the art of sitting. Visitors are encouraged to experiment with and rethink everyday behaviors. Artist Li Cheng-liang (李承亮) explores extraterrestrial narratives and new imaginings of the universe. His Time Travel Vehicle (時間旅行艙) resembles a portal out of a science fiction movie, flanked by circular windows and accompanied by an original soundtrack.
■ Taipei New Horizon (台北文創), Fubon A25 Building (富邦信義A25), Four Four South Village (四四南村), Breeze Xinyi (微風信義), Breeze Songgao (微風松高), Breeze Nanshan (微風南山), Eslite Xinyi Store (誠品書店信義店), Zhongxin Plaza (忠信廣場), Songshou Square (松壽廣場), Xinyi Plaza (信義廣場). For complete venue details, contact Fubon Art Foundation at tel: (02) 2754-6655
■ Until May 19
Photo courtesy of Metaphysical Art Gallery
Beyond Imagination (象外之象) is a solo exhibition by Chinese artist Lu Bin (陸斌) at Soka Art Center Taipei. Lu has been pushing the boundaries of contemporary ceramics since the 1990s, reviving traditional aesthetic values by incorporating concepts from modern Western art. Over the last 30 years, the artist has created works reflecting on the essence of contemporary China. He experiments with a variety of materials, including zisha (紫砂) clay from Jiangsu Province that is best known for its use in teaware. This solo exhibition is a retrospective of works Lu created before 2000, including career milestones. The period from 1988 to 2000 marks the height of Lu’s career, during which the artist made abstract structures of bricks and wood, the two main materials used in traditional Chinese architecture. From 1988 to 1998, Lu also created Stone Age (石器時代) and Iron Age (鐵器時代), two series that emphasize the expressiveness of his chosen materials through hand-molded forms.
■ Soka Art Center Taipei (台北索卡藝術中心), 350, Tiding Blvd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市堤頂大道二段350號), tel: (02) 2533-9658. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm
■ Until April 28
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Lin Hsing-yueh (林惺嶽) is an artist, critic, educator and curator who has been a prominent figure in the art scene since the 1970s. A retrospective of his work, entitled Magical Light and Shadow in Nature (大自然奇幻的光影) is on view at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Lin began developing a distinct surrealist style in the 1960s to express his earnest concern for Taiwan’s social climate. To him, a sense of melancholy and bitterness loomed over Taiwanese society from the post-war era until the 1980s. In 1980, Lin’s artistic practice transitioned into a more representational style. Rendering scenes of Taiwanese landscapes, he portrayed the natural vitality of the island’s great mountainous ranges, scenic beaches and rivers. In 2010, Lin began to create large-scale works amid an ongoing battle with cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Testing the limits of strength and determination, his recent works continue his celebration of life and humanity. The show is a comprehensive panorama of Lu’s career, including early watercolor sketches that poetically depict scenes from everyday life and later oil paintings conveying his affection for his homeland. The works consistently demonstrate the artist’s intellectual sensitivity, meticulous field studies and historical awareness.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wuquan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號), tel: (04) 2373-3552. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until June 9
Photo courtesy of Mumu Gallery
Metaphysical Art Gallery presents a floral-themed group exhibition of 11 artists from Taiwan and abroad. Flowery Spring (花月正春風) features paintings, installations and sculptures inspired by nature. Prominent artist Wu Tien-chang (吳天章) is known for his paintings, photographs and installations imbued with sociopolitical commentary. Bonjour! Keelung is a new acrylic work that depicts what appears to be an assembly of school children seated before a backdrop of an open field and abstract buildings. Korean artist Kim Tae-ho makes his monochromatic abstract paintings by arduously manipulating layers of paint to produce repetitive, grid-like compositions. “My work is about... lots of practice,” says the artist, “repeating [actions] many times through my life.” Choe U-ram is a Seoul-based artist who creates kinetic sculptures of biomorphic forms. His Gold Insecta Lamp, made of 24K gold and stainless steel, is animated with a motor, processing board and LED lights.
■ Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), 7F, 219, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段219號7樓), tel: (02) 2771-3236. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm
■ Until April 27
Photo courtesy of SOKA Art Center
Photo courtesy of Konig Galerie
The small platform at Duoliang Train Station in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里) served villagers from 1992 to 2006, but was eventually shut down due to lack of use. Just 10 years later, the abandoned train station had become widely known as the most beautiful station in Taiwan, and visitors were so frequent that the village had to start restricting traffic. Nowadays, Duoliang Village (多良) is known as a bit of a tourist trap, with a mandatory, albeit modest, admission fee of NT$10 giving access to a crowded lane of vendors with a mediocre view of the ocean and the trains
For many people, Bilingual Nation 2030 begins and ends in the classroom. Since the policy was launched in 2018, the debate has centered on students, teachers and the pressure placed on schools. Yet the policy was never solely about English education. The government’s official plan also calls for bilingualization in Taiwan’s government services, laws and regulations, and living environment. The goal is to make Taiwan more inclusive and accessible to international enterprises and talent and better prepared for global economic and trade conditions. After eight years, that grand vision is due for a pulse check. RULES THAT CAN BE READ For Harper Chen (陳虹宇), an adviser
Traditionally, indigenous people in Taiwan’s mountains practice swidden cultivation, or “slash and burn” agriculture, a practice common in human history. According to a 2016 research article in the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability, among the Atayal people, this began with a search for suitable forested slopeland. The trees are burnt for fertilizer and the land cleared of stones. The stones and wood are then piled up to make fences, while both dead and standing trees are retained on the plot. The fences are used to grow climbing crops like squash and beans. The plot itself supports farming for three years.
President William Lai (賴清德) on Nov. 25 last year announced in a Washington Post op-ed that “my government will introduce a historic US$40 billion supplementary defense budget, an investment that underscores our commitment to defending Taiwan’s democracy.” Lai promised “significant new arms acquisitions from the United States” and to “invest in cutting-edge technologies and expand Taiwan’s defense industrial base,” to “bolster deterrence by inserting greater costs and uncertainties into Beijing’s decision-making on the use of force.” Announcing it in the Washington Post was a strategic gamble, both geopolitically and domestically, with Taiwan’s international credibility at stake. But Lai’s message was exactly
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