Theater
Tainaner Ensemble’s (台南人劇團) six-hour long K24 returns to the National Theater this weekend. In this humorous play within a play featuring nine actors in more than 70 roles, the “K24 Bureau of Investigation” discovers a plot to assassinate the president’s daughter, who’s been cast in the role of Juliet for a professional theater production.
▲National Theater, Taipei City
▲Tomorrow and Sunday at 2pm
▲Tickets are NT$800 to NT$3,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
In Elevator (電梯) by 4 Chairs Theatre (四把椅子劇團), two men get stuck in an elevator. To kill time, the men play a game that will soon reveal their ugly inner natures.
▲Guling Street Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Ln 5, Guling St, Taipei City (台北市牯嶺街5巷2號)
▲Tonight at 7:30pm, tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$400, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Lanling Theatre Workshop (蘭陵劇坊), a pioneering experimental theater troupe, is celebrating its 30th anniversary by restaging three works from its repertoire. The first, Cats’ Paradise (貓的天堂), premiered in 1980 and, by conveying emotions through movement and dances rather than dialogue, challenged theatrical orthodoxy.
▲Novel Hall (新舞臺), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3-1號)
▲Tonight at 7:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$500 to NT$1,500, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Ping-Fong Acting Troupe’s (屏風表研演班) 2002 production The Aurora Borealis (北極之光) returns for a countrywide tour. The theme of this star-studded, big-budget production is first love over three generations and the promises and commitment that run through it.
▲Chiayi Performing Arts Center (嘉義縣表演藝術中心), 265, Jianguo Rd Sec 2, Minsyong Township, Chiayi County (嘉義縣民雄鄉建國路二段265號)
▲Tomorrow at 7:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$600 to NT$3,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
In O Sabbe Dharmakaya, Mia Hsieh (謝韻雅) from A Moving Sound (聲動劇場) turns to the story of her mother, who was separated from
her parents after coming to Taiwan
in 1949. What begins as a family history becomes a monument to a collective tragedy.
▲Eslite Bookstore, Tainan (台南誠品書店), B2, 181, Changrung Rd Sec 1, Tainan City (台南市長榮路一段181號B2)
▲Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday
at 2:30pm
▲Tickets are NT$400, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Classical
Sounds of Taiwan (台灣風情) by Ten Drum Art Percussion (鼓擊樂團) bills itself as a neo-classical percussion performance. It combines traditional Taiwanese folk performances, folk religion, Aboriginal music and drumming in a production that gives a new perspective on the beauty of Taiwanese culture.
▲Sunday at 7:30pm in Taipei, and Tuesday at 2:30pm and at 7:30pm
in Ilan
▲Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), 505, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段505號); Ilan Performing Arts Center (宜蘭縣政府文化局演藝廳), 428, Zhongshan Sec 2, Ilan City (宜蘭市中山路二段482號)
▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$2,000, available through ERA ticketing or online at www.ticket.com.tw
NSO Meet the Master — Eroica (NSO 遇見大師系列—印刻英雄) will feature Peter Rosel on piano performing with the National Symphony Orchestra (國家交響樂團) under Gunther Herbig. The program will include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major, Eroica, Op. 55 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26.
▲Today at 7:30pm
▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City
▲Tickets are NT$600 and NT$2,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc (法國聖馬克兒童合唱團), the highly popular children’s choir aged 10 to 15, have won hearts around the world. They will commence their tour of Taiwan on Thursday and continue over the next week with performances in Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Chungli and Hsinchu.
▲Thursday at 7:30pm
▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City
▲Tickets from NT$1,200 to NT$2,000 are still available, and can be obtained through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Contemporary
Tomorrow in Kaohsiung, the pub Join US celebrates its two-year anniversary with reggae acts The Blue Truckers and Jahson the Scientist, a band called Fuck You and DJs Paty and 2 Hands.
▲169 Jianguo 3rd Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市建國三路169號). Join US is a five-minute walk from Kaohsiung Train Station (高雄車站), next to a FamilyMart (全家便利) convenience store at the corner of Jianguo 3rd and Nantai (南台) roads. For more details, visit
www.sanbaparty.com
▲Party begins tomorrow at 6pm
▲Entrance fee is NT$300 or NT$250 with student ID, includes one drink
Tomorrow night VU Live House hosts Don’t Believe the Hype, a drum ’n’ bass DJ session presented by Tranquility Bass Productions.
▲B1, 77, Wuchang St Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市武昌街二段77號B1). Tel: (02) 2314-1868
▲Show begins at 11pm
▲Entrance fee is NT$500 for men, NT$400 for women; all you can drink
Tonight The Wall (這牆) hosts indie band Red Flower (紅花), Zoom In and veteran combo The Chairman (董事長). Indie-folk and pop band 929 plays tomorrow night. Later tomorrow evening it’s Islandjam Live Reggae, a mini-festival featuring headline acts from Japan: Carib Rock, Miffer, Big H and DJ Yahman. Local reggae acts are also on the bill. [See story on Page 15.] On Sunday it’s Slow Motion, a band that attempts a mix of hard rock and French disco thump a la Daft Punk; Green Field (綠野仙蹤); and Elisa (一粒沙).
▲B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or visit www.thewall.com.tw for more information
▲Shows start at 8pm tonight and Sunday; 929’s set tomorrow starts at 8pm, followed by the reggae show
at 10:30pm
▲Entrance fee for music shows is NT$400 tonight, NT$500 tomorrow for 929, NT$400 for tomorrow’s reggae show, and NT$300 on Sunday; includes one drink
Comedic indie-pop band Open
Eyes (歐噴愛) appear tonight at Witch House (女巫店). Tomorrow WeiBird (韋禮安), an up-and-coming singer-songwriter, will present a set of soul pop material with his backing band. Singer Huang Jie (黃玠) takes to the stage on Thursday.
▲7, Ln 56, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段56巷7號). For more information, call (02) 2362-5494 or visit www.witchhouse.org
▲Performances start at 9:30pm. Restaurant/bar with queer/feminist bookstore and large collection of board games open 11am to midnight Sundays through Wednesdays; 11am to 1am Thursdays through Saturdays
▲Entrance fee for music shows is NT$300
Making an appearance at Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) tonight is the Wen Rhythm Jazz Band. Tomorrow night Hakka singer-songwriter Lin Sheng-xiang (林生祥) and Japanese guitarist Ken Ohtake (大竹研) perform in support of their newly released CD, Growing Up Wild (野生). On Sunday pop-fusion act They’re Lisa (他們是力殺) and La Petite Nurse (小護士樂團) split the bill.
▲B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1), next to Taipower Building (台電大樓). Call (02) 2368-7310 or visit www.riverside.com.tw for more information
▲Shows starts at 9:30pm tonight, 9pm tomorrow and Sunday
▲Entrance fees: NT$400 tonight and tomorrow and NT$350 Sunday
Tonight at Riverside Live House (西門紅樓展演館), it’s pop-rock act Color Band and The Fen-Fens (紛紛樂團). Taking to the stage tomorrow are pop pianist Chen Hsi (陳熙) and Raymond Hu (胡恩瑞), who goes by the stage name N-RAY.
▲177 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路177號). Call (02) 2370-8805 or visit www.riverside.com.tw for more information
▲Shows start at 8:30pm
▲Entrance fee is NT$400 tonight and NT$450 tomorrow, includes one drink
Jazz Your Mind plays cool jazz and acid jazz tonight at Sappho de Base. Performing tomorrow is a new group, The Four Notes. 4 Peace Ensemble plays fusion music on Tuesday, the Chris Stiles Jazz Trio performs on Wednesday and the Kate’s Jazz Trio plays on Thursday.
▲B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1). Call (02) 2700-5411 (after 9pm) or visit www.sappho102.biz for more information
▲Performances begin at 10:30pm on weekends, 10pm on weekdays
▲No admission fee
Every Wednesday night at the Cosmopolitan Grill is an open mic hosted by Jake Stanley of the acoustic duo Stoked Pokey. All are welcome to participate, and participants receive 20 percent off drinks.
▲1F, 218 Changchun Rd, Taipei City (台北市長春路218號1樓). Call (02) 2508-0304 or visit www.cosmo.com.tw for more information.
▲8:30pm to 11pm every Wednesday
▲No admission fee
Post-rock band Collider and indie rockers Hi-Life Wedding play tonight at Underworld (地下社會). Tomorrow it’s indie-folk rocker Ban Ban (斑斑) and her new band Boyz and Girl and all-girl punk band BB Bomb (BB彈). On Wednesday it’s experimental electronica band ChillDaDog and Dangzai Kongzhong (蕩在空中).
▲B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.upsaid.com/underworld for more information
▲Shows are from 9:30pm to 11:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, 9pm to 11pm on Wednesdays
▲Entrance is NT$300 tonight and tomorrow and includes one drink, NT$100 on Wednesday
Exhibition
The Deep seeks to reveal the mysteries found in the deepest parts of the world’s oceans, including some of the bizarre creatures that live there.
▲National Taiwan Museum (台灣博物館), 2 Siangyang Rd, Taipei City (台北市襄陽路二號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm. Tel (02) 2382-2566. On the Net: www.ntm.gov.tw
▲Until July 12
Arcadie features 83 original works by 42 masters working in the Western tradition of modernism, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Joan Miro. The exhibition is co-organized by TFAM and France’s Centre Pompidou.
▲Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), galleries 1A and 1B, 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closes at 8:30pm on Saturdays. Tel: (02) 2595-7656. On the Net: www.tfam.museum
▲Until July 12
Life, Illusion of Bodies (空身幻影) is a solo exhibition by Taiwanese artist Lee Kuang-yu (李光裕). Lee’s abstract sculptures investigate themes such as the shifting line between the real and unreal, movement and stillness and the visible and the invisible.
▲Taipei National University of Arts — Guandu Museum of Arts (台北藝術大學關渡美術館), 1 Xueyuan Rd, Beitou Dist, Taipei City (台北市北投區學園路1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm. Tel: (02) 2896-1000 X2432. On the Net: kdmofa.tnua.edu.tw
▲Until June 14
Chang Dai-chien: Memorial Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition (張大千110—書畫紀念特展) displays 96 works by one of the 20th century’s most revered painters working in Chinese art. From his early output, which was firmly rooted in tradition, to his later paintings, which were influenced by modernism, this exhibit provides insight into the painter’s evolution as an artist and the different schools of thought that influenced him.
▲National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm.
Tel: (02) 2361-0270. On the Net:
www.nmh.gov.tw
▲Until June 14
Toward the Twilight (行走在消逝之中) is a dual exhibition by photographer Chen Po-i (陳伯義) and painter Hsu Pei-cheng. Chen’s photos capture the destruction of temples that have been rased to make way for development. Hsu’s expressionist canvases contemplate ordinary scenes of backyards, parks and playgrounds on a background that depicts twilight in various shades of radiant colors.
▲Project Fulfill Art Space (就在藝術空間), 2, Alley 45, Ln 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市信義路三段147巷45弄2號). To arrange a viewing call (02) 2325-0023. On the Net:
www.pfarts.com
▲Until April 26
Cuba: The Island Garden is an exhibit by US photographer Keith Brown that sympathetically documents the people and architecture of the last bastion of communism in Latin America.
▲Pethany Larsen Gallery (Pethany Larsen藝坊), 30, Ln 45 Liaoning St, Taipei City (台北市遼寧街45巷30號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 8pm. Tel: (02) 8772-5005. On the Net: www.pethanylarsen.com
▲Until May 17
Kamatani Tetsutaro employs mixed media materials, such as Barbie dolls and plastic toy soldiers, as well as acrylic on canvas to explore the constantly shifting nature of reality in his solo exhibition Ultra Superficial.
▲Gallery J Chen, 3F, 40, Ln 161, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段161巷40號3F). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 12pm to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2781-0959. On the Net: www.galleryjchen.com
▲Until April 30
Collision Between Taboo and Desire: Hou Chun-ming Works of Print, 1992-2008 (六腳侯氏—衝撞在慾望與禁忌之間的版畫創作1992-2008) displays 13 sets of
the artist’s printmaking. Bearing
titles such as Erotic Paradise and Paradise Lost for the Heterosexuals, the prints unflinchingly explore religion, sexual desire and the artist’s own life experiences.
▲National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wucyuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm. Tel: (04) 2372-3552
▲Until May 24
The God of Earth in Taiwan (台灣土地公特展) explains the origins of the Earth God (土地公) and why it continues to play an important role in folk worship throughout the country.
▲National Museum of Natural Science (國立自然科學博物館), 1, Guancian Rd, Taichung City (台中市館前路1號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm. On the Net: www.nmns.edu.tw
▲Until May 31
Dec. 16 to Dec. 22 Growing up in the 1930s, Huang Lin Yu-feng (黃林玉鳳) often used the “fragrance machine” at Ximen Market (西門市場) so that she could go shopping while smelling nice. The contraption, about the size of a photo booth, sprayed perfume for a coin or two and was one of the trendy bazaar’s cutting-edge features. Known today as the Red House (西門紅樓), the market also boasted the coldest fridges, and offered delivery service late into the night during peak summer hours. The most fashionable goods from Japan, Europe and the US were found here, and it buzzed with activity
During the Japanese colonial era, remote mountain villages were almost exclusively populated by indigenous residents. Deep in the mountains of Chiayi County, however, was a settlement of Hakka families who braved the harsh living conditions and relative isolation to eke out a living processing camphor. As the industry declined, the village’s homes and offices were abandoned one by one, leaving us with a glimpse of a lifestyle that no longer exists. Even today, it takes between four and six hours to walk in to Baisyue Village (白雪村), and the village is so far up in the Chiayi mountains that it’s actually
These days, CJ Chen (陳崇仁) can be found driving a taxi in and around Hualien. As a way to earn a living, it’s not his first choice. He’d rather be taking tourists to the region’s attractions, but after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the region on April 3, demand for driver-guides collapsed. In the eight months since the quake, the number of overseas tourists visiting Hualien has declined by “at least 90 percent, because most of them come for Taroko Gorge, not for the east coast or the East Longitudinal Valley,” he says. Chen estimates the drop in domestic sightseers after the
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum last week, said the US is confident it can defeat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Pacific, though its advantage is shrinking. Paparo warned that the PRC might launch a “war of necessity” even if it thinks it could not win, a wise observation. As I write, the PRC is carrying out naval and air exercises off its coast that are aimed at Taiwan and other nations threatened by PRC expansionism. A local defense official said that China’s military activity on Monday formed two “walls” east
RSS