Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (台北當代藝術館, MOCA, Taipei), Street Fun, Fun Street (街大歡囍) is an annual exhibition that presents art outside of the museum walls. “Breathing” is this year’s theme, which is meant to describe the general stagnancy artists and curators currently feel. It is getting harder to breathe fresh air, write guest curators Liu Hsing-yu (劉星佑) and Hsu Yi-Hsiang (許翼翔), a metaphor for the sense of helplessness felt by many in the arts community. The show includes nine local artists who respond to such predicaments through installation, interactive works and performances. On Sunday afternoon, Ho An-yun (何安妘) and Wanpinini’s (頑皮妮妮) performance, Sale Talk (販賣對話), will take place at the Taipei Zhongshan Market (中山市場). For more details, visit: www.mocataipei.org.tw
■ Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (台北當代藝術館, MOCA, Taipei), 39, Changan W Rd, Taipei City (台北市長安西路39號), tel: (02) 2559-6615. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Starts tomorrow; until Nov. 3
Photo Courtesy of National Palace Museum
Since 2011, the National Palace Museum has been creating high-resolution animations of selected paintings from the museum collection. The animations faithfully depict the original works while highlighting the cinematic quality that scroll paintings inherently possess. Activities of the Twelve Lunar Months is the museum’s latest digital production created according to a set of twelve anonymous paintings from the Qing Dynasty. Once hung in the Qianlong Emporer’s palace, the pictures showcase seasonal changes and folk customs throughout the year. Although the author is unknown, it is speculated that several court painters contributed to their completion. Western influences are apparent, giving the rendition of space and people a more lifelike quality.
■ 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), tel: (02) 2881-2021. Open daily from 8:30am to 6:30pm; closes at 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays
■ Until Dec. 26
Photo Courtesy of the artist
Independent online magazine New Bloom (破土) presents Puann-Phinn (搬片), a series of events that explores the power of projection. As part of the program, the film Boundaries (南北 邊境) by Hong Kong artist Lee Chun-feng (李俊峰) will be screened on Sunday at the coffee shop lechat (路上撿到一隻貓). Lee works in a variety of media — video, photography, writing, direct action and installation — to probe the intersections between community and history. He is also co-founder of the former community space Woofer Ten (活化廳) from 2013 to 2015. Boundaries is a speculative narrative based on a proposal made by the British government to build a Hong Kong Wall between the New Territories and Kowloon.
■ lechat (路上撿到一隻貓), 2, Lane 49, Wenchou St, Taipei City (台北市溫州街49巷2號), tel: (02) 2364-2263.
■ Sunday from 7pm to 10pm
Photo Courtesy of MOCA, Taipei
Dan Ji (淡季) is the first edition of the Gou Zai Wei Street Art Festival (溝仔尾街區藝術季), a month of experimental art exhibitions and short-term art residencies that take place in a historical street of Hualian City (花蓮市). Every year, Hualien as a tourist destination experiences high and low seasons of visitor influx, and these patterns greatly affect the rhythm of daily life for local residents and businesses. While many businesses close shop when tourism is low, the festival seeks to redirect the energy of the community towards artistic creation when business is less busy. This year the program includes art performances, music, poetry, installation, tattoo and perfume creations. The festival seeks to integrate creative energies into the local community.
■ Gou Zai Wei St, Hualien City (花蓮市溝仔尾街) tel: (09) 3265-5384. For opening hours please contact organizers.
■ Begins tomorrow; until Oct. 26
Photo Courtesy of Earthing Way
Taipei based art and design groups The Earthing Way (地衣荒物) and Zone Sound Creative (融聲創意) team up to present an interactive exhibition about sensory experiences, memories and auditory events. The two teams share an interest in cross-disciplinary practices and an adaptation of technologies to the creative process. The Earthing Way takes as its starting point the idea of “old is new” in the context of Taiwanese culture. Initial Resonance ARAMONO Interactive Sound Exhibition 2.0 (同根聲—荒物聲響裝置展2) features an installation of wares familiar to Taiwanese households that are hooked up to a sound system. Visitors navigate the sound system using an Web page to create audible feedback or movement of objects within the space.
■ Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區) 133, Guangfu South Rd, Taipei City (台北市光復南路 122號), tel: (02) 2765-1388. Open daily from 9am to 6pm
■ Until Oct. 20
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This
In the tourism desert that is most of Changhua County, at least one place stands out as a remarkable exception: one of Taiwan’s earliest Han Chinese settlements, Lukang. Packed with temples and restored buildings showcasing different eras in Taiwan’s settlement history, the downtown area is best explored on foot. As you make your way through winding narrow alleys where even Taiwanese scooters seldom pass, you are sure to come across surprise after surprise. The old Taisugar railway station is a good jumping-off point for a walking tour of downtown Lukang. Though the interior is not open to the public, the exterior
RSS