The Architect
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is currently hosting its 11th Biennial. It started Nov 17 and will be running until. The theme is “Life-Support, Living, Survival System” which interrogates the museum as an Ecosystem. Mali Wu and Francesco Manacorda are co-curators. Beyond visual artists, they have also included NGOs, activists, film and documentary makers, architects and other non-visual artists, in an effort to create a cross-disciplinary dialogue. By presenting non-traditional creatives in the museum’s galleries, the curators aim to enhance the discussion and the exchange of knowledge, responding to the diversity and possibilities of ecology. There are 41 dynamic works. A few that captured my attention are described in more detail.
Jeffrey Hou & Dorothy Tang:
Plant’s Eye View of Taipei literally interprets the way that plants perceive space in Taipei. Within this exhibit, each plant has a life story. Rather a plan is existing as a tree-lined street, a decorative plant for a entry area, or an unwanted “weed”. Plants continue to adapt to their urban environments and certainly in Taipei shape the visual space of the atmosphere. This exhibit was born from work at Treasure Hill International Arts Village in Taipei in summer 2018. Under the direction of the artists, and working in collaboration with ecologists and , a group of students from several countries in the Asia-Pacific region each imagined themselves as a plant species. This work was re-interpreted by the biennial.
Huai-Wen CHANG+MAS (Micro Architecture Studio)
Micro Architecture Studio has created a spatial construction on the second floor facade which tracks the movements of the wind. Museum in the Clouds is activated from the interior and exterior of the building. The project is ongoing beyond the biennial and interacts with the weather station on the museum roof that records micro-climate. The museums weather station documents micro-climate data around the museum, including light, wind, rain, temperature, heat radiation, ultraviolet light, wind flow velocity, wind direction, and rainfall. It also receives remote data on air quality and information on pollutants in nearby rivers. When temperature and humidity reaches a certain level, there is a mist activated that forms a cloud over the museum that clues the immediate area. In the evening, the lighting system responds to the air quality by showing a variety of illumination colors. These colors communicate the current quality of air varying from “perfect” to “stay indoors”.
Indigenous Justice Classroom
Indigenous Justice Classroom is a collaboration between documentary director Mayaw Biho, musicians Panai Kusui, Nabu Husungan Istanda, indigenous Taiwanese creatives, and people from all ethnic backgrounds that mutually care for the land. ‘Indigenous Ketagalan Boulevard protest’ in 2017, was initiated by the Indigenous Justice Classroom following the announcement of Taiwan’s new ‘Regulations for Demarcating Indigenous Traditional Territories.’ These regulations enable the exploitation of indigenous territories by corporate interest, stifle existing indigenous culture and damage the environment. The protest set up camps in front of the Presidential Palace on the Ketagalan Boulevard. They were evicted by the police a hundred days later and relocated to the nearby NTU Hospital MRT station. Over six hundred days have past since the protest began and the exact number of days is displayed in the exhibited artwork photographed below.
The social movement is recreated within its exhibition at Taipei Biennial. The physical tents from past protest camps pictured below hang from the ceiling, protest quotes are displayed on towels, a circle of rocks is emblematic of customary rituals, and an indigenous woven lily form represents housing structure.
The Matriarch
Grandparents day at Ms. Lam Montessori was December 5. Leila’s grandmother was visiting Taiwan for her high-school reunion. The coincidence in overlap with Leila’s schedule was to her great benefit. Leila had a grandparent able to attend. The circumstance for us. She may have been the only students without a grandparent present if her grandmother was not in town, and it is moments like that make you feel a bit more isolated. (Although grandparents day in NY also presents complications for our family.) She was ecstatic and my mother-in-law enjoyed seeing her interact with the class.
Life in Taipei
Christmas is not a major holiday in Taipei. Leila’s school calendar has her scheduled to attend school on Christmas Day, and the holiday schedule shows the school as closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. There are Christmas events throughout the city. You can visit Santa, purchase a Christmas tree, or see holiday lights. I assume that these events are designed for expats. I haven’t gone out of my way to attend. The reality is, I actually don’t mind. I am not missing is the consumer pressure to purchase gifts. Last year during this time, I was searching for the perfect gifts during lunch breaks, and searching online to make sure that I could find the perfect item. Leila’s received so many gifts some Christmas’s that I could see the actually fatigue in her body language from opening them. Her list this year was so simple. It included items such as a candy cane or a Hershey’s kiss. We continue to say that Christmas is not about gifts, but more and more, it seems to be about gifts. And perhaps because I’m not inundated with the messaging, I feel less pressure to equate giving someone a gift with Christmas. Leila and I are so fortunate to have family visiting us throughout Christmas, so we get to experience a holiday together in a new place. It really is for us about seeing and spending time with family. This in actuality is the best gift for us.