Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) opened a new exhibition on Saturday that showcases works by the nine finalists from this year’s Taipei Art Awards, highlighting the various conflicts they feel about themselves or being in a changing world with ever changing technologies.
During an awards ceremony held on Friday, Chen Zhao-hua (陳肇驊) won the Grand Prize for his work titled At Xiaguirou Mt (在 下圭柔山): NT$550,000 (US$17,110) and an opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at the museum, according to a statement.
Chen’s work recreates a shed used for his artwork, in which two metal giant leaves of a night-scented lily plant are connected to a modified compressor and frosted.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum via CNA
This shows Chen’s true passion for creating art despite the stark working space, the jury said.
The artist’s “mindset [of his passion for arts] is demonstrated by the details of the recreated shed,” the jury said. “The honesty and sophistication of the work displays an artist’s struggle between his work and reality.”
The museum picked a total of nine finalists after receiving a total of 227 submissions, it added.
In addition to the Grand Prize, two of the nine finalists — Wu Wei-ting (吳瑋庭) and Chen Zi-yin (陳姿尹) — received an Honorable Mention from the jury and a cash prize of NT$120,000 each, the museum said.
Wu’s Daily Noise — Level of Illusion (日常雜訊一一錯覺層次) is comprised of several objects created to look like daily items scattering around the exhibition space, such as a piece of Carrara white marble measuring 3cm by 1.5cm by 1cm, titled This is not an Eraser (這不是一個橡皮擦).
Meanwhile, Chen’s Pixel Extension (像素延伸) shows how artificial intelligence (AI) could change what appears to be real but is not, such as a video explaining how AI technology zooms out from the Earth as little more than a spec of dust in an image of the universe.
Chen also displays a photograph of a street with a hole in the sky in her work titled Removal of the Moon (移除月球), which shows the different moon phases, depending where the viewer stands.
The other six finalists, whose works are shown in the exhibition, include Chuang Pei-xin’s (莊培鑫) The Method of Entry (進入的方法), Peng Si-qi’s (彭思錡) House and Universe — Whish (家屋與天地—微軀), and Lee Li-chung’s (李立中) The Legend of Banshanzai (半山傳奇).
The others are Wu Chia-yun’s (吳家昀) Five, Four, Three, Two (無盡), Peng Wei’s (彭韋) Blank (空白), and Lai Jiun-ting’s (賴俊廷) The Human-like Non-human Series: Cognitive Algorithms, Artificial Organs, and Elector Telepresence (似人非人_認知演算。人造器官。電幻知覺).
The exhibition runs until Feb. 18.
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