The National 228 Memorial Museum on Saturday opened an art show featuring the works of a Hungarian-American painter whose creative themes usually revolve around human rights activism.
The “Spectre of Freedom: Art of Resistance” exhibition features the selected works of Steven Balogh and is to run until March 23.
While the artist himself could not make it to Taiwan to personally attend the exhibition’s opening due to an injury, he gave thanks to the 228 Memorial Foundation in a pre-recorded video for organizing his show and also talked about the inspiration behind his works.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan shared a lot with his native Hungary in that its peoples have always strived for national independence and freedom, Balogh said.
The artist is expected to visit Taiwan in February next year to create an installation artwork to memorialize the 228 Incident, following which thousands of people protesting the authoritarian Chinese National Party (KMT) regime in 1947 were killed or arrested.
Balogh was born in 1954 in Hungary when the country was still under the shadow of the Soviet Union, and his first foray into art came when he served in his country’s Air Force at the age of 20.
Balogh was inspired to pursue art after witnessing a gruesome injury suffered by a peer in the air force, Taiwanese American Arts Council CEO Luchia Meihua Lee-Howell (李美華).
He trained under various mentors to create artwork criticizing the Hungarian Communist Party, which put him on the radar of Hungary’s authoritarian government. That led him to seek asylum in a refugee camp in Austria in 1986 and become stateless, she said.
Balogh has been living in New York since he was granted refugee status by the US, she said.
Photos of his performance art back in 1979 in Hungary and works from when he started living in New York would be exhibited at the show in Taiwan, Lee said.
Museum curator Lan Shih-po (藍士博) said one of Balogh’s works in Taiwan is a painting of a Hungarian college student who committed self-immolation, which mirrors the history of Taiwan independence activist Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who also self-immolated in the name of freedom and free speech.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS