Paiwan artist Sakuliu Pavavaljung yesterday denied that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl, following a description of an assault posted online last week that led to speculation that he had been involved in such an incident and local prosecutors launching an investigation.
Pavavaljung, who received a National Award for Art in 2017, said that the incident depicted in the Facebook post never happened.
“I did not do what the online story alleges,” 61-year-old Pavavaljung said. “I will clear things up when I talk to judicial authorities about the matter.”
On Thursday last week, artist Kuo Yu-ping (郭俞平) posted online a piece titled “Story of a Small Town,” in which he describes how a Paiwan artist, who Kuo calls Kulusa, sexually assaulted a 19-year-old female fan earlier this year.
Since the post, numerous readers have said that the artist is Pavavaljung.
Yu Yue-lien (余悅廉), an engineer, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that Pavavaljung attempted to sexually assault her in the summer of 2006, when she attended an exhibition of his work.
Following the allegations, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which was set to feature the veteran artist at the Taiwan Pavilion for next year’s Venice Biennale and Kassel Documenta Fifteen in Germany, said on Monday that work on the curation was halted “until matters are clarified.”
The National Culture and Arts Foundation, which granted Pavavaljung a National Culture and Arts Award in 2018, said it is halting sponsorship of the artist.
Prosecutors in Pingtung have launched a probe into the matter.
Pavavaljung said that in the wake of Kuo’s post, people in the arts community, as well as friends and family, have expressed concern.
“I am innocent,” Pavavaljung said. “I will continue my preparatory work for upcoming exhibitions.”
He declined to comment on moves by Taipei Fine Arts Museum and the National Culture and Arts Foundation to halt his sponsorship.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
RSS