Taipei Cultural Center in New York

Thursday, November 1, 7:00pm
Asia Art Archive in America
43 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Space is limited and registration is required.
Tickets Available Here

Join us for a screening of Chia-Wei Hsu’s Huai Mo Village (2012, single-channel video, 8’20”), and Ruins of the Intelligence Bureau (2015, single-channel video, 13’30”), followed by a conversation with the artist moderated by curator and critic Christopher Phillips. Their discussion will touch on the artist’s exploration of filmmaking as a performance art and Taiwan’s complex relationship with other countries in the region.

Huai Mo Village takes place in an orphanage in Chiang Rai, Thailand and tells the true story of a troop of Chinese Nationalist soldiers who retreated to the border regions between Thailand and Myanmar at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1950. In this film, the founder of the orphanage, who is a pastor and former intelligence officer, recalls the plight of these homeless, stateless soldiers who remained in Thailand rather than return to China or join the Nationalists in Taiwan

The pastor appears again in a second film, Ruins of the Intelligence Bureau, to expand on the story he began in Huai Mo Village. Set in the remains of the demolished Intelligence Bureau, this film features a performance of a traditional Thai puppet show. Narrating the performance is the pastor, who recalls personal memories and recounts the legend of Hanuman—a monkey general who leads his troop to battle and helps a prince return to the kingdom from which he was exiled.

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HSU Chia-Wei (b. 1983, lives and works in Taipei) is interested in the untold histories of the Cold War in Asia. His work often takes the form of films and installations, weave together reality and myth, the past and the present. Hsu’s work has been presented in many museums, including Van Abbemuseum, the Centre Pompidou, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and Reina Sofia National Museum. A Hugo Boss Asia Art Award finalist in 2012 and the Grand Prize winner of the 2017 Taishin Arts Award—a major accolade for artists in Taiwan, Hsu has also been included in many biennials and festivals, such as the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the 2012 Liverpool Biennial, the 2018 Sydney Biennial and Gwungju Biennial. He will also participate in the upcoming Shanghai Biennale.

Christopher Phillips is an independent curator and critic. From 2000 to 2016 he worked as a curator at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. He has organized many exhibitions that explore modernist photography of the early 20th century as well as contemporary Asian photography and media art, including ”Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan” (with Noriko Fuku, 2008); “Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide” (2011); “Han Youngsoo: Photographs of Seoul 1956-63” (2016); and “Life and Dreams: Contemporary Chinese Photography” (2018). His books include Photography in the Modern Era: European Documents and Critical Writings, 1913-1940 (1989), Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China (with Wu Hung, 2004), and Life and Dreams: Contemporary Chinese Photography and Media Art (with Wu Hung, 2018). He teaches in the Photography and Imaging Department at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

The International Studio & Curatorial Program announces Chia-Wei Hsu: Black and White – Malayan Tapir, a solo exhibition by Hsu that focuses on a specific non-human animal—the Malayan tapir. The exhibition opens on Oct. 30, and will run through January 25, 2019.

Through evocative storytelling, Hsu cuts across time and geography to narrate the history of the Malayan tapir and its relationship to colonial power and zoos in Southeast Asia.

According to the artist, his intention with Black and White –Malayan Tapir is to use an encyclopedic narrative style to deal with issues of equality between people and non-humans, man and nature, and to explore changes in the way modern people view images.

The exhibition is composed of a synchronized four-channel LED-screen installation. The scenes in the video switch between the National Gallery Singapore, the National History Museum, and the Singapore Zoo, to search engines and multiple computer screen windows. Across the screens, a zoo tour guide recounts the initial recording of the black and white Malayan tapir by a Chinese painter, who mapped it in the early nineteenth century at the request of William Farquhar, a commander of the British East India Company.

This was likely the first documentation of the species, an endeavor that was ultimately contested by Farquhar’s boss Stamford Raffles, who also purported to be the first to discover the animal. Due to the rapid development of the natural sciences during the colonial era, the naming and documentation of animals and plants became a competitive field, and accordingly, conflict is entwined with the history and legend of the Malayan tapir, now an endangered species.

About the artist:

Chia-Wei Hsu (born 1983, lives and works in Taipei) is interested in the untold histories of different periods in time, and frequently focuses on the Cold War in Asia. His works, often in the form of films and installations, weave together reality and myth, the past and the present. Hsu’s work has been presented in many museums, including the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; and Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid. A Hugo Boss Asia Art Award finalist in 2012 and the Grand Prize winner of the prestigious 2017 Taishin Arts Award, Hsu has also been included in many biennials and festivals, including the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the 2012 Liverpool Biennial, the 2018 Sydney Biennale and the 2018 Gwangju Biennale. He will also participate in upcoming Shanghai Biennial.

About ISCP:

ISCP supports the creative development of artists and curators, and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. Housed in a former factory in Brooklyn, with 35 light-filled work studios and two galleries, ISCP is New York’s most comprehensive international visual arts residency program and fourth largest in the world, founded in 1994. ISCP organizes exhibitions, events and offsite projects, which are free and open to all, sustaining a vibrant community of contemporary art practitioners and diverse audiences.

Major support for this exhibition is provided by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan and Taipei Cultural Center in New York. This program is also supported, in part, by Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, New York City Council District 34, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

This year the New York Comic-Con collaborate with Anime Expo to host the first-ever Anime Fest @ NYCC at Pier 94 from October 4^th to 7^th, alongside with the New York Comic-Con in the Javits Center at the same time. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, and organized by the Taipei Cultural Center in NY and the Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association, nine Taiwanese comic publishers including Tongli Publishers, Sharp Point Publishing, Ever Glory Publishing Co., Ltd. Kadokawa Taiwan Co., Dala Publishing Co., Gaea Books, Friendly Land Creative Co., Ltd., Uei-Shiang Co., Ltd., and VMage Co. Ltd., and two Taiwanese video game companies including Red Candle Games and Toii Games, will be participating at a special Taiwan Pavilion. Golden Comic Awards winner Chang Shang has also been invited to hold activities to interact with fans, with the hopes of representing Taiwanese comics in the American market.

The Taiwanese Pavilion will spotlight Taiwanese comics, video games. Following on the Chen Uen exhibition at the National Palace Museum, the Taiwanese Pavilion will also introduce works of Chen Uen to exhibition participants, including Banzai, The First King, Heroes of the Eastern Chou, and translated editions of Legend of Assassins and A-Bi Sword, brought for the first time to America to be seen by readers. Well-known Taiwanese publishers including will bring works such as Ever Glory Publishing Co., Ltd.’s Attentively Listening to the Heart series, Taiwan Kadokawa Co.’s Words in the Night series, hoping to give American comic fans a different experience.

Outside of this, the Taiwanese Pavilion will allow participants to experience two different video game works, the mystery horror game Detention, and AR-based cell phone game Unforgivable: Eliza. Both are highly creative works engaging with modern Taiwanese history, which may allow American gamers to experience Taiwanese culture and history.   

The opening reception of Taiwan Pavilion will be on October 4th between 12-13 pm with free goods available for participants. Besides, there are two panels organized by them. On October 4th, the panel discussion on Unforgivable: Eliza will be held at the 350-seat capacity Mirai Stage, with Taiwanese-American author Ed Lin, a three-time winner of the Asian American Literary Awards. On October 6th, another panel event will be held by Dala Publishing Co- founder and editor-in-chief Huang Chien-Ho to discuss the recent exhibition on the works of Chen Uen exhibited at the National Palace Museum, including discussion of the history of Taiwanese comics in the 1980s and 1990s and the accomplishment of Chen Uen.

Another Taiwan booth is located in the Javits Center’s Artists Alley, with Golden Comic Award winner Chang Shang invited for four consecutive days of signings. Chang’s work Hidden Checkpoint THL won the Kyoto International Manga Award and the 8th Golden Comics Awards in the Youth Comics Category. Chang’s style is less like Japanese comics, but more similar to American comics, which may be of interest to American comic readers.

【Taiwan ACG Carnival Pavilion 】

Anime Fest @ NYCC：2018/10/4-7，10 am - 19 pm

Venue 1：Pier 94，Booth number #5422

Venue 2: Javits Center，Artist Alley ＃G27

【Ticketing Information】http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/Explore/Anime-Fest-At-NYCC-x-Anime-Expo/

Game Introduction

1.Mystery Horror Game Detention:

Created by Red Candle Games, Detention is set in the martial law period of the 1960s, in a high school in the mountains during a storm, and incorporates elements of Taiwanese culture, spiritual beliefs, and culture. This includes elements such as city gods, Heibai Wuchang, chimimōryō, weimiaofan, poe divination, shrines, fulu, and the White Terror persecution of communists, secret reports, and the political blacklist. The game is set in Cuihua Middle School, with the high school students Wei Zhong-ting and Fang Rui-xin trapped in the campus, and the two of them seeking a way to escape the school. However, they encounter ghosts and other mysteries within the school.

2.AR-based Cell Phone Game Unforgivable:

Unforgivable is an AR-based game, which utilizes the GPS function of smartphones, with a story which involves Taiwanese history and culture, particularly regarding the martial law period. The game hopes to introduce players to Taiwanese history, with a scenario written by Taiwanese-American author Ed Lin, involving political persecutions during the Chiang Ching-Kuo period.

An Introduction to Chen Uen

Chen Uen is the representative master of a generation of Taiwanese artists. Born in Daxi in Taoyuan, he was the first Taiwanese artists to establish a reputation for himself in Japan with his work, Heroes of the Eastern Chou, winning the Excellence Award from the Japan Cartoonists Association in 1991, and designing Chen Uen’s Three Kingdoms, as the first Taiwanese artist to make his name in the world of Japanese video games. He was hailed as a talent without equal in twenty years by the Asahi Shimbun, and combined eastern and western styles in his work, using watercolors and acrylics, employing dramatic tension and exquisite detail in his work. This spotlight Taiwanese comics in the international world. At the end of 2018, the exhibition, The Legacy of Chen Uen: Art, Life and Philosophy, was held at the National Palace Museum.