Taipei Cultural Center in New York

The Taipei Cultural Center in New York is most delighted to present the Taiwanese Golden Melody Award (金曲獎) Band-- Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band (徐崇育 & Soy La Ley 古巴爵士樂團 ) with local partners, including New Orleans Jazz Museum, NOLA River Festival(LA), FirstWorks Festival, Providence, Rhode Island (RI).

The band’s newest program of 《Jazz Changed, Jazz Changes, Jazz Changin’》live performance film will be premiered at NOLA River Festival website on September 18th, 2021 at 9:00 PM EDT. Bassist and composer Vincent Hsu reflected on three questions while producing this live performance film with his ensemble, the Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band—“How has jazz changed the world?” “How is it changing the world?” “How has jazz itself changed? A devotee of Afro-Cuban music, Hsu made the film to showcase his original compositions, and to share a glimpse of everyday and traditional life in his native Taiwan. The performances were shot at scenic locations unique to the island nation. Hsu aims to show that jazz is alive and well beyond its birthplace, and as the title suggests, to show how this music is always evolving. Ultimately, the film is a tribute to this uniquely African-American art form, as well as an acknowledgement of the indelible impact it has left on people and societies around the world. Also featured are interview clips with prominent musicians and scholars, including Hsu's mentor, the legendary bassist Cecil McBee, historian Loren Schoenberg, drummer and educator Jerome Jennings, and poet and writer Naomi Extra.

Tune in on NOLA River Festival Facebook on September 18th, 2021 at 9:00PM EDT, for the live premiere!

Formed in 2010, Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band (徐崇育& Soy La Ley古巴爵士樂團)aims to infuse their Taiwanese roots to the practices of jazz and Afro-Cuban music style, leading audiences to experience the unpredictability of jazz improvisation through Afro-Cuban rhythms. Their debut album ‘In Our Blood’ was released in June 2018. It won the “Best Jazz Single of the Year” with Vincent Hsu’s composition “Dreamer's Blues” at the 2018 Golden Indie Music Awards, and was also honored with the Global Music Awards' Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 2019.

Born and bred in Taiwan, award-winning bassist and founder/bandleader Vincent Tsung-Yu Hsu launched his musical career in New York City and was mentored by legendary musicians, including Victor Venegas, Andy González, Cecil McBee, and John A. Schaeffer. Hsu has been touring worldwide, including Madrid International Jazz Festival, Busan Jazz Festival, Taichung Jazz Festival, National Theater & Concert Hall Summer Jazz Festival, and Macau Jazz Festival, among others. Taking the combination of Latin music and jazz as a form of bilingualism, Hsu is an inheritor of the musical lineage that originates in New York’s Spanish Harlem. Three distinct cultures intersect and interweave to shape the sonic character of his band: the singular power of African polyrhythms come together with the fusion of Latin and jazz improvisation in a profusion of Taiwanese compositional elements that give rise to vivid storytelling. Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band have taken the dual vernaculars of Afro-Cuban music and jazz, and left their own musical mark through the creation of an original work that embraces the context of Taiwan’s own soundscape.

Taipei Cultural Center in New York is very pleased to announce that video and installation Taiwanese artist, Wang Yahui (王雅慧) will be participating the MandaLa Lab of the Rubin Museum of Art.

Inspired by powerful Buddhist principles, the Mandala Lab features five thought-provoking, playful experiences—including videos, scents, sculpture, and curated percussion instruments—that guide visitors along an inner journey focused on self-awareness and awareness of others. See, smell, touch, and breathe your way through the space, designed to inspire connection, empathy, and learning.

The Scent Library, where Wang Yahui’s (王雅慧) piece of scent video will reside. Participant will encounter this simulated library and experience the scent created by the master perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. A digital installation leads the participant through a series of questions, screens the artist’s video of their memory about the scent, and prompts guests to record their memories and emotions. By watching these videos and reading previous visitors’ memories associated with the same smell, guests will perceive how diverse—and sometimes radically different—our reactions can be to the same stimulus. Their feelings of association and attachment to a memory start to shift to a more empathetic awareness, the wisdom of discernment.

Wang Yahui’s (王雅慧) works include videos, installations, and photographs. Her work has been shown internationally and she has held residencies at Location One (New York, 2006), Cité des Arts (Paris, 2007), and the Helsinki International Artist Programme (Helsinki, 2010). She has exhibited or screened her work in international film festivals and biennials, including the Taipei Biennial (2002), Shanghai Biennale (2006), International Film Festival Rotterdam 2008, and the Hors Pistes Film Festival at the Centre Pompidou (2008). For the 2010 Taipei Biennale (Taipei Fine Arts Museum), she designed a large-scale sculptural installation, entitled Artist Cinema—The Dark Side, as a venue for screening videos by other artists. She participated most recently in the exhibition Finding Time, held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taipei in 2020.

The Mandala Lab experiences have been created in consultation with cognitive scientists, Buddhist teachers, and contemplative humanities researchers, and feature contributions from a diverse group of contemporary multidisciplinary artists including video and installation artist Wang Yahui (王雅慧) and other 13 artists.

“Our society is struggling right now,” says Jorrit Britschgi, the Rubin’s executive director. “We are navigating a pandemic, we are grappling with a climate crisis, and we are confronting longstanding inequities and deep divisions in our society. With the Mandala Lab, our hope is for the Rubin to be a Museum where art, ideas, research, and our emotions connect.”

The museum originated from a private collection of Himalayan art which the funder, Donald and Shelley Rubin had been assembling since 1974. The Rubin Museum of Art offically opened on October 2, 2004 and is a museum dedicated to the collection, display, and preservation of the art and cultures of the Himalayas, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and other regions within Eurasia, with a permanent collection focused particularly on Tibetan art. The New York Times commends it, “one of the biggest thinking small museums in Manhattan.”

Exhibition:
Title: Mandala Lab
Date:
Opening, October 1, 2021
Opening Night Celebration, October 1, 6:00 PM
Opening Weekend October 2, 3, Free Admission
Venue:
The Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th St. New York, NY 10011
www.RubinMuseum.org