Akibo (李明道) is an artist, designer and art director who first gained recognition for creating iconic album cover designs for famous Taiwanese pop musicians including Bobby Chen (陳昇), Wubai (伍佰), Lo Ta-yu (羅大佑) and A-mei (張惠妹). As an artist, Akibo is known for creating robotic characters with a distinctly original style and playful personalities that engage in narratives of courage, adventure, friendship and love. These characters were initially created for his two sons as fictional companions, which are meant to inspire in them positive values. The ongoing project embodies the warmth of his fatherly love. In celebration of this year’s Children’s day, Hsinchu City Art Gallery (新竹市美術館) is hosting Akibo’s solo exhibition, Welcome Robots (機器人家族), which showcases 12 large-scale robotic sculptures, over 100 action figures and a selection of 3D models. The gallery space is equipped with augmented reality. There are also 30 original robotic designs on display, entries chosen from a children’s design competition held in February by the gallery.
■ Hsinchu City Art Gallery (新竹市美術館), 116, Jhongyang Rd, Hsinchu City (新竹市中央路116號), tel: (03) 531-9756. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9am to 5pm
■ Until May 5
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Artist Village
The annual Treasure Hill Light Festival will open tomorrow with an extensive program of events, including stand-up comedy, art actions, performances, talks, outdoor film screenings and a flea market. The film program is co-organized by Giloo, an online documentary streaming platform that showcases a broad range of non-fiction film. From noon to evening, Giloo will screen 4 films from the US, China and Japan in an abandoned air raid shelter. For full details, visit: www.artistvillage.org. The month-long festival A Land of Happiness (野景) is spread throughout the Treasure Hill Artist Village compound, and features 14 artworks that explore the relationship between modern life and nature. Legacy Lab International (人嶼) is a Taipei-based, multi-disciplinary studio that works between the boundaries of science and contemporary art. Nirvana (涅槃) demonstrates the group’s ongoing research and experimentation with various physical properties of media and materials. Olga Diego is a Spanish-born artist who creates large industrial objects and performances that reflect on the process of production. Her installation Jardin Automata is composed of a labyrinth of gigantic, plastic blow-up dolls powered with kinetic features. Inspired by the 15th century masterpiece Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, the work is a feast of visual excitement.
■ Treasure Hill Artist Village (寶藏巖國際藝術村), 2, Alley 14, Lane 230, Tingzhou Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市汀州路三段230巷14弄2號), tel: (02) 2364-5313. Opens Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm
■ Tomorrow until May 5
Photo Courtesy of Treasure Hill Artist Village
Listening Machine (聆聽的機器) is a two-person exhibition by Taipei-based artists Chi Po-hao (紀柏豪) and Wang Chung-kun (王仲堃). Last year, both Wang and Chi participated in artist residency programs abroad supported by the Taipei Artist Village; this exhibition is a culmination of their respective experiences through works that engage with sound and technology. Chi’s practice involves creating live electronic, electroacoustic compositions and installations inspired by observations of everyday life and living environments. He is particularly interested in designing music systems that allow him to create compositions that operate beyond the confines of traditional music making. Song of Distances (距離之歌) is an interactive project that encourages the participation of visitors to contribute to an on-site interactive Web page. The work examines broadband, wireless networks and mobile communications and how these networks can be used to generate art. Wang’s practice, on the other hand, focuses on creating mechanical sound instruments, interactive installations and cross-disciplinary performances. His recent project explores the potential of randomness and spontaneity in sound installation. Sound of Wind (風聽) is a kinetic sculpture inspired by sound in relation to air flow. The movement of visitors in the gallery space affect the work through subtle changes.
■ Barry Room, Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村百里廳), 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號), tel: (02) 3393-7377. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 9pm
■ Until April 23
Photo Courtesy of Hsinchu City Art Gallery
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art presents Immortal On Screen (螢燈不滅), a group exhibition that explores our daily engagement with cyber space. “The first thing that many of us do when we wake up in the morning is to pick up our phones to switch off the alarm, and then we begin the day by browsing through Facebook and Instagram,” writes the curator Tseng Yu-chuan (曾鈺涓). She refers to activities online as a virtual life that is “concealed behind the screen … where emotions are masked and life is strategically considered, edited and altered.” In this show, ideas pertaining to the self-image, voyeuristic existence and immortality are presented through the perspectives of eight artists from Taiwan, the US and China. Chinese artist Ye Funa’s (葉甫納) Peep Stream is an ongoing live performance in collaboration with fellow artist Beio (北鷗). According to the artist, the project aims to blur the line between mass culture and contemporary art. Los Angeles-based artist Amalia Ulman’s Excellences & Perfections is a five-month scripted performance staged via Instagram and Facebook that responds to online makeover culture.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wuquan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號), tel: (04) 2373-3552. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm.
■ Until June 9
Organized by the Department of Architecture of Tunghai University (東海大學建築系), Bauhaus 100 and the World It Enables (包浩斯百年與她所啟發的世界) is a retrospective of the radical design works of the influential German design school that operated between 1919 and 1933. Founded by German architect Walter Gropius, the school promoted excellence in both arts and craftsmanship while directing the school’s program towards contributions in mass manufacture design. The school’s unique approach to education offered a combination of workshops and art theory courses that was revolutionary for its time. In celebration of Bauhaus’s 100th anniversary, the exhibition commemorates the school’s pioneering ideas and unique styles that continue to inspire artists and designers to this day. According to the show’s press release, the innovative spirit of Bauhaus is a great influence on the Department of Architecture of Tunghai University. The department’s founding father, Chen Chi-kwan (陳其寬), once worked under the Gropius before returning to Taiwan to participate in the design of Tunghai University’s campus. The show includes a detailed model of the University’s Architecture building as well as a 3D rendition of the Bauhaus building in Dessau, Germany, created by the architecture students of Tunghai.
■ U-mkt (新富町文化市場), 70, Sanshui St, Wanhua Dist, Taipei City (台北市萬華區三水街70號), tel: (02) 2308-1092. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
■ Until May 12
Earlier this month Economic Affairs Minister Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) proposed buying green power from the Philippines and shipping it to Taiwan, in remarks made during a legislative hearing. Because this is an eminently reasonable and useful proposal, it was immediately criticized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). KMT Legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) said that Taiwan pays NT$40 billion annually to fix cables, while TPP heavyweight Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) complained that Kuo wanted to draw public attention away from Taiwan’s renewable energy ratio. Considering the legal troubles currently inundating the TPP, one would think Huang would
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) last week told residents to avoid wearing scary Halloween costumes on the MRT so as not to alarm other passengers. Well, I thought, so much for my plan to visit Taipei dressed as the National Development Council’s (NDC) biennial population report “Population Projections for the Republic of China (Taiwan): 2024-2070,” which came out last week. Terms like “low birth rate” and “demographic decline” do not cut it — the report is nothing short of a demographic disaster. Yet, in Taiwan, as in other countries, it is solvable. It simply requires a change in mindset. As it
One of BaLiwakes’ best known songs, Penanwang (Puyuma King), contains Puyuma-language lyrics written in Japanese syllabaries, set to the tune of Stephen Foster’s Old Black Joe. Penned around 1964, the words praise the Qing Dynasty-era indigenous leader Paliday not for his heroic deeds, but his willingness to adopt higher-yield Han farming practices and build new roads connecting to the outside world. “BaLiwakes lived through several upheavals in regime, language and environment. It truly required the courage and wisdom of the Puyuma King in order to maintain his ties to his traditions while facing the future,” writes Tsai Pei-han (蔡佩含) in
Chiayi County is blessed with several worthwhile upland trails, not all of which I’ve hiked. A few weeks ago, I finally got around to tackling Tanghu Historic Trail (塘湖古道), a short but unusually steep route in Jhuci Township (竹崎). According to the Web site of the Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山國家風景區), the path climbs from 308m above sea level to an elevation of 770m in just 1.58km, an average gradient of 29 percent. And unless you arrange for someone to bring you to the starting point and collect you at the other end, there’s no way to avoid a significant amount
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