Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Everyone came to see you—Ni Xiang Solo Exhibition/ NI Xiang

Beginning with his personal, everyday life involving hoarding and caregiving, NI Xiang creates a compelling depiction of hoarding syndrome by juxtaposing and exploring various contradictions. The piles and stacks of old items in the exhibition space form a winding viewing route, evoking a reversal of roles in which humans lose control to the surrounding objects. Medical supplies, assistive devices, and installations that provide a chance to experience the physical perceptions of patients vividly illustrate the challenges of long-term care in an aging society. This collection of everyday items, out-of-fashion decorations, caregiving supplies, and sculptures made of cardboard boxes culminates in a large-scale installation that is intensely expressive. NI’s work is significantly affective and deeply engages with the topic of long-term care, while his idiosyncratic use of discarded materials embodies his unique “hoarding aesthetics.” (Commentator: CHANG Yun-Ting)

Beitou Palimpsest/ YEH Wei-Li

Examining the “displacement” of individuals in contemporary society, YEH Wei-Li challenges the idea of place defined by collective consciousness or power. This prompts reflections and inquiries about personal memories while rejecting a simplistic view of place and reassessing implicit factors such as time, people, events, and objects that shape a place. YEH's solo exhibition embodies this reflective perspective. Furthermore, his re-engagement with and revitalization of abandoned spaces in his creative work evokes a spiritual dimension in which the place serves as a quintessential physical mediator, and the performers become drifting people, events, and objects free from temporal boundaries. The creator, as the orchestrator of this spatial-temporal performance, aims to forge new interpretations of place through the author, text, and readers. (Commentator: ROAN Ching-Yueh)

Earthquake Sketch—Featured in the 2024 Hualien Palafang Art Festival: Planet Explosion Observatory/ The Earthquake Sketching Group

The “Earthquake Sketching Group,” comprising fifteen local youths from Hualien, took the initiative to visually document the aftermath of the 2024 Hualien earthquake. They recorded the drastically altered landscape following the disaster. They seized the opportunity to showcase their sketches at the satellite exhibition of the art festival, presenting works created over months from various locations, including the Guofu Construction Residual Treatment Plant, hot springs in Wanrong, the College of Science and Engineering at National Dong Hwa University, Dongshan Cemetery, and Qingshui Cliff. They also displayed photographs of the disaster-stricken and demolition sites captured by local photographer HUANG Ting-Yun. Their action genuinely and powerfully illustrated the emotional bonds that local residents have with the land and the complex feelings experienced after the disaster. The exhibition has transcended the typical “painting/photography exhibition.” It embodies the agency and healing power of art and represents a highly proactive effort to shape society. (Commentator: CHANG Yun-Ting)

The Place of Beginning—Hsieh Mu-Chi Solo Exhibition/ HSIEH Mu-Chi 

From the exhibition title, HSIEH Mu-Chi begins to tease out his ideas about the intrinsic nature of painting. Covering nearly twenty years of his art—from The Place Without Beginning in 2006 to the solo exhibition The Place of Beginning in 2024—HSIEH has consistently employed diverse creative works to further his inquiry into painting, the contemporary landscape, and his self-exploration of responding to, capturing, or reimagining the local creative language. This exhibition underscores HSIEH’s emphatic resonance with his surroundings, art history, and the works of his predecessors in art, re-establishing the connection between his art, contemporary society, and historical contexts. Through the interplay of his vibrant palette and dynamic brushstrokes, he has captured a relaxed, controlled, yet fluid state of expression. (Commentator: LIN Yi-Hsiu)

Vietnamese Immigrating Garden —A Silent Process: Tuan Mami Solo Exhibition/ TUAN Mami

The “Vietnamese Immigrating Garden” project combines influences from various social environments on immigrant communities, along with TUAN Mami’s recent research during his residency in Taiwan, which involved extensive fieldwork across the country. The project captures the experiences of Vietnamese migrant workers, international students, and new residents as they cultivate hometown vegetables and herbs in their living spaces, transforming these activities into a gathering of personal stories, seed sharing, and cultural distribution. In doing so, it tenderly brings together the self-identity and relationships of these migrants and laborers. Through this quiet yet powerful process that fosters a sense of stability and belonging, TUAN uses artistic actions to connect the lives of migrants, encouraging different communities to share resources, spread information, and create a space that fosters an alternative dialogue and attentive listening. (Commentator: LIN Yi-Hsiu)

Hensan Pear Trees & Hosui Pears—Chen Liang-Hsuan Solo Exhibition/ CHEN Liang-Hsuan

The exhibition delves into the production processes and history of Taiwan’s grafted pears, allowing the audience to understand the delicate and complex agricultural grafting techniques illustrated by the orchard’s micro-histories while showcasing video art's aesthetic skills and expressiveness. CHEN Liang-Hsuan affectively edits the nuanced changes of light and shadow over time, showcasing the vibrancy of nature and embracing the captivating qualities of video as a medium. The narrative, use of sound, and forms of projection or imaging are intricately woven together. The thoughtful design of interface materials, dimensions, and height variations enables the work to integrate or shift between chapters smoothly. This approach provides diverse expressions and interrelations of the video content, leading to an overflowing sense of poetry. (Commentator: SUN Ping)

Battle City: Finale—2023 Dreamin’ MoNTUE/ CHANG Li-Ren

In Battle City: Finale, CHANG Li-Ren develops a distinctive type of work that weaves various narrative threads into storylines, encompassing international political scenarios, social issues, sci-fi fantasies, fiction, fables, and storytelling. Additionally, he employs diverse expressive methods by appropriating (poor) images, comics, films, paintings, theater, and installations, making it challenging to categorize or interpret his work in a single manner. Nevertheless, it is this multi-faceted, crystalline quality that captivates the audience and draws them into a miniature, spectacular realm of familiar daily wonders while provoking attention and discussion on serious, real-world topics. The work effectively demonstrates art’s ability to simulate, fostering a deeper perception and nuanced understanding of reality among viewers. (Commentator: CHENG Sheng-Hua)

Turn Out—NTCH Ideas Lab 2024/ LIU I-Ling

Turn Out is an experiment that challenges classification boundaries, featuring dancer LIU Yi-Ling performing solo and embodying captivating bodily expressions. Beginning with an exploration of the various interpretations of “turn out,” the piece delves into the dancer’s physical techniques, the differences between the perceptions of professional artists and those of the general audience, and the mental journey of career growth. LIU humorously dismantles common stereotypes, blurring the lines between dance, theater, and stand-up comedy, even incorporating elements of lecture performances, allowing mutual interpretations of bodily movements and language. This piece serves as both her personal revelation and a quest for the true essence of dance, inviting viewers to rediscover the potential of the performing arts through laughter and contemplation. (Commentator: ZHANG You-Sheng)

Islands—Artquake in Autumn 2024/ WANG Yeu-Kwn

Choreographer WANG Yeu-Kwn’s Islands draws from the cultural heritage and dance backgrounds of both himself and Indonesian dancer Danang Pamungkas, developing a piece that features the body as a solitary island and explores the connection between humanity and nature. In this poetic journey of life, they represent two islands in the vast ocean, using their bodies to redefine the boundary between land and sea on a black plastic surface. They also symbolize two pure forces that physically re-measure the borders between the body and imagination. This piece, with its enigmatic and poetic realm and the heartfelt, moving dance, blends life with the rituals of theater, crafting a unique island odyssey. (Commentator: CHEN Pin-Hsiu)

That's Possible, But Not Now—2024 Tainan Arts Festival/Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company 

Choreographer LUO Wen-Jinn and dramaturg CHEN Hung-Chun’s collaboration, That’s Possible, But Not Now, draws inspiration from Franz Kafka’s short stories. The production unfolds through three interconnected scenes, translating the absurdities and contradictions depicted by Kafka into the creative anxieties and internal conflicts faced by artists. The narrative develops as the scenes shift between the front of a doctor’s office, the courthouse, and an apartment door, delving into the creator’s examination of social injustice and the meaning of one’s life. A large movable door on stage adds subtle symbolic depth to the piece. The dance cleverly incorporates elements of mime into physical expressions, effectively delivering a satirical commentary on human nature through superb dance skills and humorous portrayals of characters. (Commentator: CHEN Pin-Hsiu)

So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain—Lîm Tsīng -Gān SOLO/ Seven KOLO Society 

By merging the roles of playwright, director, and actor, Lîm Tsīng -Gān conducts a profound and structural examination of the realities and illusions, as well as the appearances and inner realms of life and theater. Behind what appears to be delicate sincerity lies a strong determination. He adeptly combines live performance with visual narratives from multiple viewpoints and timelines, providing a nearly clinical examination of existential challenges and stitching them together. The performance is sharp and precise; the pacing flows smoothly, and the spatial elements and imagery enhance both the external and internal conflicts and struggles. By focusing on the creator’s experiences with illness, the production conveys modern alienation while prompting deeper concern and introspection, making it a poignant solo performance born from the collaborative efforts of many. (Commentator: SUN Ping)

This is not an Embassy—2024 Taiwan International Festival of Arts/ National Theatre & Concert Hall x Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Rimini Protokoll

The central theme explores the ongoing ambiguity and embarrassment inside and outside Taiwan’s society regarding its identity and name. The theater company embraces the challenge of this mission, along with its complexities and difficulties. Three actors alternate on stage and engage in dialectical exchanges, delivering the performance at a brisk pace that balances seriousness and humor, establishing a fundamental tone. They present various stances from objective and diverse perspectives while expressing their genuine and subjective circumstances in life. At the same time, they avoid turning the subject into political propaganda or inciting intense confrontations between differing social views. Ultimately, this allows both Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese audiences to better understand their social context, strengthening the connection between drama and society.” (Commentator: ROAN Ching-Yueh)

The Temple of Resonance—2024 Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival/ Uni Percussion
  

This innovative production revolves around sound and music as its core narrative medium, effectively merging sound art, folk beliefs, and theatrical language to interpret the connections between the tangible and the intangible, the traditional and the modern, as well as the senses and the intellect. Featuring a powerful Western percussion performance, it integrates an extensive study of Taiwan’s temple music, resulting in an original composition/musical text. For musicians, sound embodies their beliefs, and the musical temple translates auditory experiences into a cross-cultural, perceivable artistic expression. It breaks down the barriers between language and culture, inviting audiences from varied backgrounds to intuitively engage with its spiritual dimension through sound narratives and a visceral connection to the body. This piece unveils new potential in music theater while showcasing the distinct aesthetic expression of Taiwanese artists. (Commentator: CHANG Yin-Fang)

Ghostopia—Artquake in Autumn 2024/ approaching theatre

Exploring history through ghost stories is not a new concept in Taiwanese theater, but approaching theatre unveils a novel dimension with the use of this approach by utilizing a double act. KOH Choon Eiow and CHENG Yin-Chen showcase their skills in speech, performance, and singing, intertwining history and reality along with legends and facts to craft a performance featuring anecdotes from the Malaysian Communist Party that is both hilarious and incisive, witty and poignant. Ghostopia blends post-colonial parody, the acting style of Hong Kong cinema, improvisation from street theater, the rhythm of double acts, and the physical techniques of Poor Theatre, creating a rift in time and space. Amid flickering lights, ventriloquism and personal stories open a gateway into Cold War history. We are surprised to discover that the past is never truly over. Instead, in the dreamscape of Western modernity, shaped by our desires, the specter of history still lingers. (Commentator: Jen-Hao Walter HSU)

Great-Grand Rat-Po-Tai (So Old) Is Sleeping Next To A Landscape Painting, Diligently & Stingily Snoring—— But There Is No Landscape Painting! (White Carrot, Rat Teeth, Her Child, (And Her Child’s Child.)) / flowers bloom on the dead end x HSU Peng

Great-Grand Rat-Po-Tai (So Old) Is Sleeping Next To A Landscape Painting, Diligently & Stingily Snoring—— But There Is No Landscape Painting! is a remarkable collaboration between flowers bloom on the dead end and HSU Peng. HSU’s script skillfully refines everyday trivialities into surreal black humor through the magical power of words and imagination. Co-creating with flowers bloom on the dead end at the historic Hsu family home in Guolin, they weave legends from history and craft a fable about women featuring the “Rat-Po-Tai (Mouse Great-Grandma)” within the ethical context of a Hakka village. This immersive performance blends text, visuals, and actors’ performances, successfully incorporating the surroundings into the performance text while providing a re-interpretation of this environment. Through humorous and sharp, other-dimensional imagination, the heavy reality is transformed into a questioning of the patriarchal order framed within feminist poetics. (Commentator: Jen-Hao Walter HSU)