The Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts has unveiled “Tropical Cyclone,” presenting four group exhibitions of Taiwanese contemporary art arranged separately by four curators from Taiwan, Southeast Asia and South Asia. 

 

The curators – from Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines and Bengal – presented the contemporary Taiwanese art from their own perspectives in one of KdMoFA’s most important events of the year, running from October 6 to December 17.The main theme of the exhibitions – “Tropical Cyclone” – highlights Taiwan’s climatic characteristics. 

 

Every year, Taiwan is hit by four to five typhoons that form in the Pacific Ocean or on waters west of the Philippines. As they travel thousands of kilometers across the sea, they soak up moistures that will be eventually wreak havoc on Taiwan in the form of strong winds and heavy downpours. 

 

Despite the damage and casualties that typhoons may inflict on the island, the people of Taiwan seem to always be able to bounce back shortly afterwards, making adjustments and preparations for the next attack. To be able to co-exist with typhoons may be related to Taiwan’s history with multiple foreign cultural influxes, but beyond the historical aspects, the natural setting of Taiwan is also the result of compositions caused by aggressive foreign elements. 

 

Such a geo-cultural concept underlies “Tropical Cyclone,” which looks to bring to Taiwan diverse influential viewpoints that allow a unique standpoint to take shape for the contemporary art in Taiwan through a process of rapid changes and restructuring.

 

The four exhibitions are: “An Intimate Eye” curated by Hsiang Huang from Taiwan; “Illegibility: The Making of” curated by Louis Ho from Singapore; “Plying the Seas, Divining the Skies” curated by Tessa Maria Guazon from the Philippines” ; and “The Memoirs” curated by Tayeba Begum Lipi from Bengal.

 

“An Intimate Eye” – whose Chinese title alludes to a popular song in Taiwan from the 80s, which in turn is based on a poem about a couple’s intense and passionate love hundreds of years ago – references those passionate emotions and reflects them onto the strong sentiments the four contributing artists hold for nature, life and time. 

 

“Plying the Seas, Divining the Skies” explores the links between contemporary art practice and the production of place. Space and time are implicated in the intricate intimacies of place. The works chosen for the exhibition speak to times and places past and to those acts that allow their remaking and reinvention. 

 

“Illegibility: The Making of” borrows its central premise from anthropologist James C. Scott. The exhibition extends Scott’s notion of legibility the institution of the museum, featuring works that intervene in and disrupt the hierarchy of those relationships – works that produce the museum as a defamiliarized, illegible space.

 

“The Memoirs,” departing from the curator’s experience of finding a long lost childhood friend, dissects Taiwanese artists’ memories, identities and dreams. The exhibition marks the first time that Tayeba Begum Lipi has ever played the role of a curator.

 

The opening of “Tropical Cyclone” on October 6 was accompanied by the holding of 2017 Asian Contemporary Art Forum, where curators and art managers from Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Bengal shared their ideas and experiences.

 

Caption: The curators and artists pose for a group picture at the opening of “Tropical Cyclone” at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts.