Curated by Yu-Chuan Tseng

Date: 2018/10/6-11/4
Place: Taipei Art District Festival, Taipei, Taiwan

“Taipei Art District” is Taiwan’s art industry’s largest settlement which contains more than 20 galleries and art institutions, including the high-profile long-established and big Taiwanese galleries, Japanese and Korean galleries. Half of Taiwan’s overall gallery output value comes from this area. As the most densely populated area in Taipei, “Taipei Art District” is a newly emerging area in Taipei’s Dazhi and Neihu districts. Close to downtown Taipei, big spaces, and low rent price – these factors have been attracting galleries to settle in this area since the 1990s. Apart from this, with the potential of local technology and the purchase of art for luxurious houses, the number of galleries has grown evenly in the past three to five years. “Taipei Art District Festival” was launched in 2014 and has been held for five times. The event is abundant with activities, especially after being supported by the Department of Culture Affairs of the Taipei City Government, its activities expanded to the public domain and is widely supported and talked about by the people in the area. As the area is located near Neihu Science and Technology Park, “Taipei Art District Festival” attempts to promote new media art. Therefore, curator Tseng Yu-Chuan who has a strong focus on the development of Taiwan’s new media art was invited to plan this year’s festival. “Should We Play?” was chosen as the main curatorial topic, and four subtopics, “Should We Know?”, “Should We Collect?”, “Should We Curate?”, also, “Should We See,” were given to the additional activities of the festival.

Transitional Mirage: Liang Gallery
Artist: Legacy Lab International, Ming-Chang TIEN, Wen-Cheng LEE, A muse, Pey-Chwen LIN, Shih-Ting HUNG, I-Chun CHEN, He-Lin LUO, Hui-Chan KUO

“Transitional Mirage” is about returning to the memory of the game, a fantasy world constructed of action, imagination, and critical awareness, awakening the hidden space that once existed, echoing the emptiness of mixed reality, and leading the viewer into the artist’s mid-ground. In the world created by the artist, though the illusion of virtual reality, the viewer can return to the memory of “playing” and the memory of forgetting. This mirage is a metaphor which is not only trying to shape and return but also through the joy and fascination of the mirage, to remind us of our ignorance to technological life and the gradual lack of imagination.

Memory As Object-XUE XUE
Artist: Chi-Ping CHINｘKuan-Ying WU, Chia-Lu CHANG, C.j. YEH, Hui-Yu LO

“Memory as Object” discusses the meaning of the transitional object in life, and rediscovers the object by establishing a relationship with us in the hidden space to create the object of memory. This object is created in a game, it is not an inner object, but a real object. And yet, for us it is not an external thing either; it is an external object attached to the inner us.

Escaped Reality-DaGuan Gallery
Arist: Hsiao-Ching WANG, Pei-Chi KUO, Hui-Ching HSU, Wen-Lin HUANG, Chia-Jeng TSAI, Shih-Yung KU

“Escaped Reality” contemplates on the individual’s responsibility to face reality, how to adjust and empty your emotions, bring back the imagination into playing, and turn the daily life and responsibility of life into the strategy of “playing.” When being conscious, the unconscious connects the inner reality with the external reality and transforms the sensory impression into a mechanism of mental self-therapy.

Flickering Moment-Fish Art Center
Artist: Chen-Wei CHIANG, Chin-Hsiang HU, Bing-Hua TSAI

“Flickering Moment” retrieves childhood memories and brings the fun of the analog era into the creative process. The meaning of the works centers on the spirit of Maker (self-created), awakens the hearts of the participants and the viewers and brings them the pure happiness of childhood by using flashing lights, sound, shadows, and mechanical structure as the main body of the work. A landscape-like structure becomes the landscape and also echoes the technological landscape of the digital era.

Axes Dynamiques – pour spectacle interdiscipline  in O-Back Concert hall
Composer : wang sueya
Images/ performeur: craphone liu
Program interaction design ：Ko-Chun YANG
Piano:wen-ying lan
Percussion : Vivian shih
Saxophone Lin Kuan
Performer/musician：ChaoMing Ko
Qu Zheng : hsu, yu-tien