The American Culture Center, for years known for promoting new artists and English learning at its former location on Nan Hai Road, has reopened at its new location in eastern Taipei in the International Trade Building on Keelung Road. With a new, modern look, the reinvigorated center offers updated, streamlined services and is launching its new image with the Taiwan premier of an exhibit that has been touring the world.
"After Sept 11: Images from Ground Zero," photograph's by New York photographer Joel Meyerowitz, will be shown in the new American Cultural Center from July 8 to 24. It features 27 pictures chosen from among 5,000 that Meyerowitz, winner of a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, took as the only photographer allowed to have unimpeded access to Ground Zero just two days after the September 11 attacks on the New York World Trade Center.
The photos offers a stunning reflection of the September 11th attacks on the US and the reaction of the American people in human terms, and can be appreciated from an artistic, photo journalism or global issues perspective.
After being unveiled in Washington, D., at the State Department by Secretary of State Colin Powell, "Images From Ground Zero" made its overseas debut at the Museum of London on March 5, 2002.
To date, in addition to the UK, it has shown in more than 60 cities: In France and throughout the European continent, in Eastern Europe from Russia and throughout the New Republics, in South America (Chile and Ecuador), in the Middle East (Kuwait), in sub-Saharan Africa from Nigeria in the west to Kenya in the east, and in East Asia in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia.
"Images From Ground Zero" will open in Beijing on Sept 11, on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the US. By Dec 2002, it will have been seen in 110 cities.
Following its American Cultural center debut, the exhibit will continue to be on view in Taiwan over the next three years at sites around the island: In Tainan, Chung-li, Hsin Chu, and Taichung, in addition to several showings in and around Taipei, including Yangmingshan.
On Sept 11, 2002, the exhibit will open at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts to commemorate the first year anniversary of the horrendous attacks.
The American Cultural Center, which is part of the American Institute in Taiwan's Cultural and Information Section, carries out a wide range of programs to promote awareness of American life and culture: It maintains the AIT Web site and the American Information Web site, which provide information on many aspects of US society and culture.
It conducts and co-sponsors speaker programs, discussions, exhibits and cultural performances and maintains close relations with major Taiwan universities and think tanks.
The center arranges and facilitates the visits of a large number of individuals and groups who travel to US on professional development and study tours each year.
The center also works with various institutions to coordinate many professional and academic exchanges. These include working with the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange on the Fulbright Scholar Program. The American Cultural Center also houses a high-tech library, the Resource Service, which provides the latest information on US government policy and American society and culture.
The American Cultural Center is on the 21F of the Taiwan World Trade Center International Trade Building, 333 Keelung Road, Section 1, Taipei, tel. 2723-3959, web:ait.org.tw
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
RSS