Taipei Dangdai is presenting a new online initiative called “Taipei Connections” to bring together art galleries, collectors and artists as the COVID-19 pandemic is limiting opportunities for them to connect.
Developed in collaboration with Ocula, a contemporary art Web site that offers online access to artworks and exhibitions, Taipei Connections is to showcase a curated selection of “richly contextualized artworks” from leading galleries for the public from Saturday to Tuesday next week, organizers said.
Highlights in the first edition of Taipei Connections include works by Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, Chinese painter Zeng Fanzhi (曾梵志), Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, and American artists Doug Aitken, Alex Katz and Al Held.
Photo: CNA
Risings stars in Asia such as Singapore’s Alvin Ong and Dawn Ng, and China’s Zhao Zhao (趙趙) and Lu Song (呂松) are also to be featured, organizers said.
Contemporary Taiwanese artists who are included are Ho Kan (霍剛), Li Yuan-chia (李元佳), Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中), Tang Jo-hung (黨若洪), Liu Chi-hung (劉致宏), Yeh Shih-chiang (葉世強) and Cheng An-li (鄭安利).
Taipei Dangdai will also present a series of online events, including a Q&A session with Taipei Dangdai codirectors Magnus Renfrew and Robin Peckham, a virtual studio visit with artist Wu Chi-tsung (吳季璁) and a walkthrough of Wurm’s show at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which is on view until June 14.
The online platform builds on the Taipei Dangdai’s mission of creating an “open forum for art and ideas” beyond the walls of the fair, organizers said.
It is the “first step” in its effort to engage with audiences through digital platforms, they added.
“Conversations that start at a fair frequently conclude throughout the year and sometimes in other places,” Renfrew said. “As there are fewer opportunities within the current context for these follow-up encounters to happen in person, we want to provide a focal point that can allow conversations to continue virtually.”
While there is “no replacement for meeting in person,” Taipei Connections intends to serve as a bridge between galleries and collectors, Peckham said.
The second edition of Taipei Dangdai, held in January at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, attracted more than 40,000 visitors, organizers said.
The art fair closed just before the COVID-19 epidemic began to spread outside of China, forcing major cultural events across Asia to postpone or cancel.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it