If you're city-bound this summer, there are several refreshing art exhibitions to excite, soothe or even shock you. The works on view range from the lighthearted to the digitally interactive to outrageous performance art. In the exhibitions we see several art stereotypes: the professorial artist didactically telling his viewers about color theory; women as nurturers trying to give back to their communities; and the rock ‘n’ roll burnout artist.
Singing in Your Brain is Tsao Hsun-chih's (曹訓誌) first solo exhibition. He has four projects on display and takes a playful approach to dense color theory and ideas regarding perception.
The first work is a video of a woman singing the well-known Happy Birthday song, except there is no sound coming from her mouth. On seeing her mouth move, the viewer mentally fills in the melody. Tsao says suggestion is quite overpowering to the senses and that even though we use these faculties, we often do not pay much attention to them. Focusing on how our minds can fill in melodies or perceive color and sensations is a lot like “singing in one's brain.” In another room, Tsao uses two wall-sized projections to illustrate that point. In one, an optical illusion occurs as multicolored pixels seem to fill the screen, but the video was made with only two colors, red and green, and the mind is tricked into perceiving purple, yellow, orange, white, and gray.
PHOTOS: SUSAN KENDZULAK
Over at the Taipei Cultural Center is a small exhibition organized by Taipei Artist Village director, Su Yao-hua (蘇瑤華). Titled Women in Taipei it brings together three female artists who try to include community, family and place in their art. Hsu Chia-jung (許嘉容), the only featured artist to live in Taipei, uses her personal family photos to construct three-dimensional mannequins. Using transparent positive film, she stitches the snaps together and uses a light bulb placed inside the mannequin to create a glowing image.
Thai artist Teerawat Mulvilai exhibits the private journals of Southeast Asian women who have made Taiwan their home, while American Lexa Walsh exhibits her Immortalization Project in which she collects nostalgic objects from people and then conducts interviews to examine sentimental attachment. This modus operandi has become a trend at the Taipei Artist Village where visiting artists from around the world exchange personal mementoes with members of the local community.
In addition to the exhibition at the Cultural Center, the Taipei Artist Village runs a schedule of art, dance and performance programs that change monthly according to which artists are in residency at any given time. The artist village has a pleasant cafe with fresh baked goods so one can take a peaceful rest between gallery rounds.
At IT Park, performance artist Cheng Shih-chun (鄭詩雋) has become a transgressive rock star. Photos of a previous event show passers-by stamping out cigarettes into a heart shape drawn on his upper arm as if to say love hurts. To further make his point, photo lightboxes glow brightly where the embers burned his skin. A drum kit, guitars and amps are strewn throughout the gallery. This is no commercial exhibition, as sex toys, cash, and butts are the detritus of the painful and difficult passage of adolescence into adulthood.
Exhibition notes:
What: Singing in My Brain by Tsao Hsun-chih (曹訓誌)
Where: Sly Art Gallery, Lane 11, 15-2 Zhongshan Rd N Sec 2, (台北市中山北路二段11巷15-2號1樓)
When: Until Aug. 27What: Women in Taipei
Where: Taipei Cultural Center, Exhibition Room 3, (台北市立社教館第三展覽室2F), 2F, 25 Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市八德路3段25號)
When: Until Aug. 31What: Cheng Shih-chun (鄭詩雋)
Where: IT Park, 2/3 F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei (台北市伊通街41號2-3摟) Tel:2507-7243
When: Tuesday to Saturday from 1:00pm to 10:00 pm; until Sept. 2
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
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
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
Mirror mirror on the wall, what’s the fairest Disney live-action remake of them all? Wait, mirror. Hold on a second. Maybe choosing from the likes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Mulan (2020) and The Lion King (2019) isn’t such a good idea. Mirror, on second thought, what’s on Netflix? Even the most devoted fans would have to acknowledge that these have not been the most illustrious illustrations of Disney magic. At their best (Pete’s Dragon? Cinderella?) they breathe life into old classics that could use a little updating. At their worst, well, blue Will Smith. Given the rapacious rate of remakes in modern