Double Square Gallery presents Fuse (影．暴．性), a video art exhibition that features diverse perspectives of the body. “Fuse” suggests a potential for ignition, a beginning point for discussions around issues concerning gender awareness, identity and power, popular culture and social violence. The show includes three artists and an artist group from Sweden, UK and Taiwan who share an interest in provocative use of image and sound. Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg are an artist duo who live and work in Berlin. They combine animation, sculpture and sound to create imaginative videos and installations about the desires of humans and animals. One Need Not be a House The Brain Has Corridors is a single channel digital film about the mistranslation between impulses and impressions. With a dose of dark comedy, the film rolls out some serious criticism about social doctrines, class hierarchies and the dominance of the human race.
■ Double Square Gallery (雙方藝廊), 28, Lane 770, Beian Road, Taipei City (台北市北安路770巷28號), tel: (02) 8501-2138. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:30am to 6:30pm
■ Until Sept. 21
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Ryoji Ikeda is a prominent Japanese visual and sound artist known for his live performances, installations, publications and recordings that explore concepts in music, mathematics, quantum mechanics, physics, philosophy and audiology. Ikeda, a self-taught artist, was exposed to a range of music at an early age. He experimented with ways to edit music, such as manipulating magnetic tape and sound frequencies, in search of fundamental questions about sound. While he spent several years in the 1990s committed to cross-disciplinary collaborations in theater and art, in 1995, Ikeda started focusing on creating minimalist electronic music that searched for the definition of sound. His latest solo exhibition, Ryoji Ikeda Solo Exhibition, is currently being shown at Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館). The show includes a selection of iconic works from the artist’s career that demonstrate the potential of data and code language to respond to metaphysics and spirituality.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館 TFAM), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei (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
■ Until Nov. 17
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Fine Arts Museum
National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) opens a new show that sheds light on the museum’s document archives. Treasures from the National Palace Museum’s Collection of Qing Dynasty Historical Documents (院藏清代歷史文書珍品) features a selection of imperial decrees, official papers, memorandums, biographies, maps and illustrations that were once strictly confidential and closely guarded by the Qing imperial palace. These artifacts offer a glimpse into governmental operations, details of court life and other well-kept secrets about the emperor and his officials. The show includes a section that relates to the Qing’s rule over Taiwan. Official documents, maps and gazetteers show the court’s interest in the people, places, affairs and resources of Taiwan. Illustrations and Discourses on the Restoration of Official Buildings in the Prefecture of Taiwan is a colorful album depicting plans to repair architecture around the city proposed by Jiang Yuan-shu (蔣元樞), prefect of Taiwan during the 18th century.
■ ■ ■ National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院), 221 Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市至善路二段221號), tel: (02) 2881-2021. Open daily from 8:30am to 6:30pm; closes at 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays
■ Until Feb. 16
Photo Courtesy of Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts
Lin Yi-hsuan (林亦軒) has lived in New York and South America, and incorporates his experience of these places into abstract paintings, translating people and places into rough and delicate compositions. Lin’s solo exhibition, We Are Turtles (我們是烏龜), at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), presents a selection of new paintings from 2014 to this year. When speaking about his work, Lin uses the pronoun we, referring to himself and his companion turtle who is a metaphor for time. Inspired by American beat generation writer Jack Kerouac, Lin seeks to go beyond the surface of painting and to discover its meaning with a wandering, stumbling and nomadic attitude. Using methods akin to graffiti and collage, the artist mediates his daily encounters into symbolic gestures.
■ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (關渡美術館), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市學園路1號), tel: (02) 2896-1000 X 2432. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm
■ Until Sept. 22
Photo Courtesy of Double Square Gallery
Huang Chia-ning (黃嘉寧) paints from small referential photographs. She depicts them faithfully, yet the size of the images provides limited detail. It is in this lack of clarity that the artist seeks to find expression. Huang’s choice of subject does not take a definite theme; she draws from different fragments of personal life and memories. Her solo exhibition, The Realistic Painting of Huang Chia-ning (如實知見), is currently on view at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (高雄市立美術館). In the show’s preface, Huang seeks to orient herself in the Information Age. “[I wonder] if the explosion of knowledge and information nowadays has made it more difficult for people to focus or acquire the right food for thought … [H]ow can an artist like me find the right food for thought and use it in the right way and in the right place,” she writes.
■ Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (高雄市立美術館), 80, Meishuguan Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市美術館路80號) tel: (07) 555-0331. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm
■ Until Oct. 13
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,
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
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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