Amorphous chairs, outrageously colored lamps and many other contemporary designs have gradually moved into "hip" households in Taiwan. As Germany and Scandinavian countries are still most often associated with contemporary design in people's minds here, the current exhibition at Taipei Fine Arts Museum (
Domains -- Contemporary Israeli Design (領域: 當代以色列設計展) is a traveling exhibition aimed at audience in East Asia and the Pacific region. To present a rounded sampling of contemporary Israeli design, well-known designers are exhibiting, such as Yaacov Kaufman -- who works for Lumina Italia -- as well as rising talents such as Ron Gilad, whose bullet-shot vase caught much attention at the opening of the show. Most of the 10 designers have gained increasing international recognition for their innovative works with a unique identity.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TFAM
Nirith Nelson, curator of Domains, explains at the opening of the exhibition that the short history of the state of Israel encourages designers to try out innovative concepts while the diversity of ethnic groups contributes to the variety of design approaches. The unstable political situation and limited economy in Israel, Nelson said, has turned designers' attention to improvisation and quick-fixes instead of time-consuming complex devices.
These improvisations are usually very amusing and original. Some of them have a pristine kind of beauty.
Yaacov Kaufman had in mind humanity's first chair when he designed Potchim. This one-off piece uses a complete block of tree trunk, part of which is still covered with bark. By making only two cuts and fixing a pair of hinges on the trunk, it becomes a folding chair. A similar trunk is cut only once, in a long "s" curve, to become a pair of chairs which easily blend in with a forest.
A recent graduate from Israel's well-known Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Sharon Peter Shechter incorporates the element of time in his furniture design in a humourous way. In Lamp Table, a table with book ends, Shechter cuts the veneer of formica from the wood table surface and bends the protruding formica to form the stem of a lamp and book ends. In Israeli households, there are countless tables which share this peeling-veneer appearance, only there it was caused by wear.
Probably the most beautiful work in the exhibition is Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow's Ga-mish, which looks nothing like a household object. The framed flexible plywood strips forms a vertical fretwork.
Placed against a wall, it can be a shelf of flexible compartments. Standing alone, it can be a room partition, or a floor window suitable for a Mediterranean climate. Whatever it is, the structure is a pleasure to look at. Pleasure, according to the curator Nelson, is one of the main triggers of Israel design today.
Domains -- Contemporary Israeli Design will run through Feb. 15 at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 181, Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 3, Taipei. (
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS