Taiwanese Artists Make Waves in Venice

The Biennale de Venezia, a famous in-ternational art exhibition at which Taiwan has one of the national pavilions this year, won't end until early November, but not only have the Taiwanese artists included in the show already received invitation after invitation to exhibit elsewhere, several influential international art magazines have devoted many pages to Taiwanese art. But exactly what kind of Taiwan art is being shown in the exhibit, which is titled "TaiwanoTaiwan: Facing FACES" ?

When you approach San Marco Plaza from the distance, you can see from afar the large colorful banners "Taiwan Taiwan" flapping in the wind outside of the national exhibition spaces, calling the passersby to come and have a look at this exhibit of Taiwanese art. San Marco Plaza has long been a place where tourists have gathered, and the Bridge of Sighs connecting the Doge Palace to its Jail is an even more famous landmark of Venice. It was by this bridge two years ago that Taiwanese art stepped up onto the stage of international art.

Walking up to the exhibition space on the second floor, the artist Lee Ming-tse is just now painting a wall himself. "It's already been painted four times, but when the paint dries, the color changes, and it's never quite right. The Italian painters say that they have already finished their work according to contract and refuse to paint again. So I've had to paint it myself." Another of the participating artists, Chen Chien-pei, has specially created a new work, Imprisoned Soul, for the exhibition. The theme of this installation reverberates with the exhibition space, which was formerly a jail. "Exhibiting with outstanding international artists-it's a great challenge," says Chen. The artists reveal again and again the importance they attached to the Biennale de Venezia.

The Olympics of art

Venice, that romantic city on the water filled with historic architecture, was the wellspring of European capitalism and the Renaissance, and in recent years has developed into an important international exhibition center for movies, music and architecture. The celebrated film festival and this biennial art exhibition are two of the city's great achievements.

The Biennale de Venezia was first held in 1895, and its development over the course of 102 years encapsulates the history of modern art, making it an important spot in the international art scene. On the one hand, art lovers make the pilgrimage here to view the thematic exhibitions and see for themselves works on the cutting edge of art. On the other hand they visit the 50 national pavilions to see the most representative or important contemporary art works of each nation. "With one ticket you can see outstanding contemporary works from around the world," says the artist Wu Mali. "It's like participating in some high-class artistic carnival. It's really worth the price of the plane ticket."

Cheng Wen-tsong, an artist who studied in Italy for many years, holds that the Biennale is very much worth attending. Apart from offering art lovers a one-stop look at many different faces of art from around the world-including the art of third-world and newly developed nations-"The Biannale introduces various kinds of art to the international art world. For instance, such art forms as conceptual art, installations and performance art have through their being on exhibit at the show increased their artistic influence or even become commercialized and entered people's daily lives through their impact on advertising or popular art. It could be said that there is no limit to the Biennale's impact."

This is the second time that Taiwan has been represented at the Venice show. Two years ago in 1995, which was the exhibition's centennial, Taiwan art appeared in the 46th Biennale for the first time ever when the ROC was given its own national pavilion. This was an important milestone in the efforts of Taiwan's contemporary art world to join the international community. The works of the participating artists Huang Chin-ho, Lien Te-cheng, Wu Mali, Huang Chih-wang and Ho Chun-ming had their origins in aspects of the Oriental tradition, including ink-brush calligraphy and folk culture, and their contemporary art works showed boldness, passion, deep mystery and reason. Revealing the thriving abundance of art in the post-colonial era in Taiwan, the works were the focus of many international media reports and attracted the notice of art critics, art museums and influential art galleries.

This year the government-run Taipei Municipal Fine Arts Museum once again applied for a national pavilion in Venice to show the exhibit "TaiwanoTaiwan: Facing: FACES." It's worth noting that this time there is also the corporate-sponsored and artist-curated "Segmentation/Multiplication" installation exhibit. The two exhibits, the official and the unofficial, made for a double whammy that gave visitors to the Biennale a chance to see the many faces of Taiwan art.

Black humor

In entering the exhibition hall one is greeted by Wu Tien-chang's On the Damage to Spring and Autumn Pavilion, which won an award at The Taipei Fine Art Museum's 1994 biennial contemporary art exhibition, and the set of paintings Wounded Funeral I-IV. The frames are wrapped with bright and gaudy cheap fabric or plastic tarp material and the pass*-partouts are covered in ribbon or the white plastic flowers used in Taiwan funerals. Their use topples post-modern fastidiousness regarding the use of materials and also prompts reflection on Taiwanese society's preference for quantity over quality and the disposable nature of things in daily life.

To this tacky style, he added flashing neon and recordings of Taiwan folk songs, and was thus able to attract the curiosity of the foreign public. Giancarlo Politi, publisher of the internationally famous Flash Art Magazine, holds that Wu Tien-chang's work is infused with a Taiwanese consciousness as well as a feel for universal human desires. This isn't just a work of art; it also shows a concern for human problems.

Lu Ching-fu, a member of the selection committee who has a deep understanding of Wu's work, believes that from Wu's famous 1980s series of totems for Chang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo and Deng Xiaoping to his new focus on injury to the soul, you can see the courage and wisdom of an artist moving on from styles in which he has already achieved success.

Next to Wu's two-dimensional works is another small dark room from which floats the sounds of 1950s Taiwan music king Wen Hsia singing "Serenade of the Green Island": "Ah, lover! At this time tonight can you sleep or not? The gentle scenes by the seashore make people feel at a loss. Ah, the south wind! Blow in the dark, sleepless night." In this dark room, the light cast on the woman in Wu's Dream of Past Era II changes in intensity with the rhythm of the music. The woman in the picture has the innocent look of a school girl, but she wears dark sunglasses, and her hands are feeling her breasts. In the background there is a vase of wilted flowers the color of dried blood. For these works, the artist expanded his use of materials to include photography, for which he had models adopt special poses. By adding oil paints on the photo's surface and lighting and music on site, the installation gives the effect of entering a theater. In the darkness a black comedy is being enacted, and when the lights go on, the audience leaves.

Providing stark contrast to Wu's black humor is Neon Urlaub by Wang Jun-jieh, which is slightly to the left of the center of the exhibition hall. To a samba beat, an oriental beauty clad in a metallic miniskirt symbolic of the future universe walks back and forth amid fluorescent hot-pink blow-up plastic palm trees introducing a dazzling travel itinerary on a computer screen: "Visits to the War Zones-Balkan Peninsula War Zone Package," "Dream and Miracle Honeymoon," and "Catch the Historic Event: Hong Kong 1997." Thus the excitement of war, a sexual fantasy world and political events are the stuff of virtual travel itineraries, like in a sci-fi movie.

Wang Jun-jieh takes an unusual tack, adding audio-visual media stimulation to elicit people's desires for consumption and movement. Integrating science and art and reflecting the new generation's search for stimulating audio-visual travel, the installation prompts reflection about the true nature of commercial marketing strategies and publicity. Spending great effort to create virtual worlds of beauty and happiness in the end only exposes the emptiness of the world's false products. Lu Ching-fu holds that a work such as this on the one hand serves to show that Taiwan has already entered the consumer age, and on the other shows how science and technology have important uses in the techniques employed in Taiwanese art.

Observations and sarcasm

Moving on from Wang Jun-jieh's bright sounds and light, the next wall offers seven oil paintings by Lee Ming-tse that are quiet personal explorations. Here is a white Buddha, with a fat head and big ears, who has dark streaks running from the forehead, along side of the nose, to above and below the center of the lips. The background over the head is a messy amalgam of shapes, whereas the foreground is clean and neat. On the white table are two plants and a clear bottle of water; the title is Reptiles. Another work shows a cultured-looking face wearing a hat favored by Ming dynasty intellectuals. He likewise has a streak running from his forehead, along the side of his nose, to the center of his lips. The work, Alternative History of Chinese Scholars, echoes in its content and Chinese name the classic comic novel Rulin Waishi. Lee matches the religious image of the Buddha and an image of the prototypical Confucian scholar with the dark symbolism of poisonous snakes and wild beasts, making a sarcastic call that "public morality isn't what it used to be" and proclaiming that Buddhist and Confucian cultivation is just an act! In the dirty world human nature is weak. What is full and what is empty? Lee's works force their viewers to think for themselves.

Coming upon the neighboring installation space of Chen Chien-pei, one once again enters a new world. It is as if one has entered a dark, deep soundless hell. Gloomy images of the four Lords of Heaven that peer down solemnly from each direction can't help but make one scurry off to the bright lotus flowers at the center of the installation.

In front of each of the four walls is a plaster-of-paris statue of the artist cast from an actual mold of him. Three of the statues have been covered with rice powder. A fourth has been covered in an iridescent powder. When the lights are turned low, you only see this statue facing the lotuses and the four Lords of Heaven on their bamboo curtains glowing in the dark.

When seeing Chen Chien-pei's Imprisoned Soul on site, Huang Hai-ming, who was a member of the selection committee, noted that the work suited the special qualities of the exhibition space. Maintaining the original appearance of this Renaissance palace wall, it took an exhibition space that was originally a jail and turned it into a black, dark space and hell in which the content of the work is integrated with the history of the site. More than just conveying a heavy sense of mystery, the work has a creepy, even deathly, atmosphere. But finally through meditation amid lotuses, it allows visitors to reclaim their freedom and attain enlightenment. One Italian visitor said that coming here was like entering a place of freedom from worldly desires, where the soul naturally becomes peaceful.

A sarcastic look at history

After Chen Chien-pei's baptism of the spirit, Yao Jui-chung, a youngster who belongs to a new age, makes people smile with a sarcastic outline of history.

Yao starts with actions, selecting six geographical spots to urinate, comparing a dog's "urinating to mark territory" with mankind's territorial conquests. The six locations of Sheliao Island, Fort Zeelandia, Luerhmen, Fort Provintia and Keelung Harbor symbolize respectively the six periods of occupation of Taiwan, from the Spanish and Dutch, to the Ming loyalists led by Koxinga and his clan, the Qing dynasty, the Japanese, and the current period beginning when the Republican forces arrived in Taiwan.

Large photographs of him urinating have been placed in tacky gold foil frames in front of which are hung gold toilet bowls with the traditional Taiwanese medicine taken for diarrhea. And the six photographs surround a boat that is symbolic of the era when America cooperated to keep the waters around Taiwan safe: a gold model of a Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier.

Lu Ching-fu, who was a member of the selection committee, holds that Yao Jui-chung's work, titled Territory Take Over-Maneuver Sequence, is political in nature, and that his use of gold toilets brings to mind the Chinese expression "sitting on the toilet but not doing shit" to ask what occupiers have done for Taiwan. Huang Hai-ming, on the other hand, holds that the gold in Yao's work serves the purpose of making something illegal legal (in the sense that those with money can get away with anything), giving the works themselves an orthodox status. This "gold" suggests pretensions of the nouveau riche, and the gold aircraft carrier could represent the economic potential of Taiwan and suggest the economic purpose behind the US military's protection of the Taiwan Strait.

With many years of international experience curating art shows, Beatrice Gysen-Hsieh, head of research and development programs at the Center for International Art Exchanges & Studies at the National Tainan College of the Arts, points out: "Many local Venice papers made lists of the national pavilions most worth seeing, and Taiwan was always in the top three. To be fair, our national hall deserves at least a score of 80." With these affirmations of its artistic quality and its central location near where tourists and art lovers would change boats, the Taiwan Pavilion "is jam-packed from opening to closing every day!" describes Wu Tien-chang.

An outstanding debut

Participating in the Biennale represents a great victory for domestic art, but with 5000 people listed in the Taiwan Artists' Yearbook, the choice of works was sure to cause controversy. In particular, the Taiwan exhibit two years ago could be described as the first time since Taiwan left the United Nations that it was part of a mainstream international art exhibition, and it participated moreover as a nation. Hence, preparations generated heated discussion at home. At the time, the major points of controversy included selecting the list of works, whether the general theme would be able to convey a Taiwanese aesthetic and why the selection committee was dominated by foreigners.

Wu Mali, who participated last time, supports the decision to use foreign-based selectors, because their international connections were of tremendous help. For instance, each time French critics or French museum or gallery staff came to the exhibition, the French selector on hand would introduce the works. It provided an excellent bridge for introductions.

In addition, Peter Ludwig, director of the famous Ludwig Museum in Germany, came to the Taiwan exhibition as a result of invitations from the German selector Wolfgang Becker. The participating artists thus received international attention from the organizers of other exhibitions. For instance, Wu received an invitation to have a solo show at the Giorgio Persano gallery in Italy, which has a 20-year history and is famous for its impoverished-artist show.

Now, two years later, when Wu looks back on that first year of participation in Venice, she holds that the negative press the show got at home (in contrast to the good reception abroad) was perhaps "because it was the first time we were participating in an international exhibition, and everyone was overly anxious about it." Indeed, there was much less criticism the second time around. In place of it was discussion of how to handle the curating and public relations so as to take the Biennale's first prize and become a focus of attention on the international art scene.

The topic was "Taiwan"

According to selector Lu Ching-fu, the chief considerations for selecting art works this year were: first, that the works must be timely; second, that the artist must be creatively ambitious; third, that the works must be well suited for the exhibition space; and fourth, that there must be connections between the works that will create a sense of both diversity and integration. The five artists selected were of different ages: Yao Jui-chang is in his twenties, Wang Chun-chieh in his thirties, and Chen Chien-pei, Lee Ming-tse and Wu Tien-chang are in their forties. From their works and their ages you can see the process of development in contemporary art in Taiwan.

Unlike the vast majority of national pavilions at the Biennale, which focus on the exhibitions of one or two artists, this year, like two years ago, Taiwan elected to go with a "combined forces" strategy. Lin Man-li, director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which organized the exhibition, said that in consideration of Taiwan's art ecology and conditions, an open-application process was adopted and a panel of judges was used to select artists who would give the international community understanding of the great diversity of art in Taiwan.

Another judge, Huang Hai-ming, adds that the five artists selected reveal three cultural phenomena: the prospering global economy and information explosion that brought with them the crises of spiritual fragmentation and loss of self-identity (Wang Jun-jieh), political and social criticism that followed the lifting of martial law (Wu Tien-chang and Yao Jui-chung), and finally "a return to the feelings of the heart and the oriental tradition" (Lee Ming-tse and Chen Chien-pei).

But is the diversity of artistic styles in Taiwan the best theme to choose for an international exhibit of Taiwanese art? There are different ways of answering this question.

The French curator Cecil Bourne says that the group approach Taiwan has taken does indeed display the diversity of contemporary art in Taiwan, but the strong individual characters of the works show no points of commonalty between them.

Huang Hai-ming feels that with more than 50 national pavilions, a complicated mixed presentation is not the best way to leave people with a strong impression. Hsiao Chin, one of the selectors, agrees with this point of view, believing that the exhibition space becomes a bit cramped and that next time consideration should be given to featuring the work of only three artists.

"For something as busy as the Biennale de Venezia, how should you go about attracting notice?" asks the artist Legend Hou. "Perhaps try to be as avant garde as possible or perhaps turn toward the traditional. Nothing is certain. It just depends on how the curators go about creating a theme or what strategy they adopt."

Beatrice Gysen-Hsieh, who has many years of experience curating international shows, emphatically urges that for the next Biennale, the search should change from "wanted: artists" to "wanted: art works." She suggests applications should be solicited for exhibition plans both in Taiwan and abroad in an open process, so that the exhibition itself can be an important and free creation. The designated curator should be given full authority to select the participating artists.

Ripples from Venice

Even if Taiwan is affluent and the efforts to promote art have already met with some success, if Taiwanese art is really to enter the world stage, and even perhaps enter the mainstream of contemporary art now dominated by the West, it will require a return to art that is strong on its own, a well developed sense of aesthetics, curatorial ability and a public-relations strategy. Fumio Nanjo, curator for the Japanese exhibit at the Biennale this year, says that if Taiwan wants to build its own special artistic character, two important factors are knowledge of the themes of freedom and democracy and an understanding of the affairs of the nation.

In looking at the realm of art now in Asia, just about every nation is in the midst of a search, building a unique local culture and history and a sense of aesthetics that is different from the West's. Major international art exhibitions in Japan, Australia and Korea, on the one hand reflect the maturity of art in Asia, and on the other hand show the Asian desire to gain some control over the artistic mainstream. But the first step toward this goal is "getting seen," and therefore we can't be absent from major international art shows, says Lu Jung-chih, who goes to Venice for every Biennale.

The heavy "Taiwanese flavor" at the Taiwan exhibition indeed gotten people to notice the works from Taiwan amid all the other art on display in Venice. For the participating artists, showing their works is more than something to point to with pride, it also has led to opportunities to participate in other international shows.

Legend Hou, who participated last time around, subsequently received invitations to participate in big international exhibitions in Copenhagen and Australia. This year's Biennale isn't yet over, and already more than ten museums and galleries have requested information about the artists or extended invitations for their participation in other shows. Huang Chih-yang and Yao Jui-chung, the youngest artists featured in the two Taiwan pavilions, both won Asian Cultural Foundation scholarships for foreign study.

What's even more exciting is that the chance to participate in the Biennale has led to reports of more than ten pages about Taiwanese art in three major art magazines: Flash Art, Asian Art News and Virus and Mutation.

The ripples from the pebbles thrown at Venice's Biennale are slowly spreading. Will they cause Taiwanese art to meet with greater acceptance internationally? Will invitations be forthcoming to major international art shows such as the documenta exhibition in Germany and the Sao Paulo exhibition in Brazil? We'll just have to wait and see.

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Next to the Doge Palace in Venice, the green banner "TaiwanoTaiwan" hangs in San Marco Plaza, beckoning passing tourists to come in for a look. (photo by Tu Pu-yi)

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The Bridge of Sighs, a major Venetian tourist attraction. On the left is the main palace, and on the right is the former prison where the Taiwan exhibition is being held. It is said that when a prisoner passed this bridge on the way to jail, he would sigh, and thus the name.

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Venice is a beautiful city and a mecca for tourists. Eighty percent of the retail businesses here cater to tourists. If not restaurants, they're souvenir shops.

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Wu Tien-chang's work Dream of Past Era II, uses painting and music to create a heavily nostalgic air. A recording of "Green Island Serenade" is playing, and when the lights suddenly turn off, it as if the woman in the painting has suddenly disappeared, and one is left only with memories. (photo courtesy of Wu Tien-chang)

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Lee Ming-tse's work Alternative History of Chinese Scholars makes fun of intellectuals' pretensions and the emptiness of self-reflection. (photo courtesy of Taipei Municipal Art Museum)

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In Wang Chun-chieh's Neon Urlaub an oriental beauty wearing metallic clothing politely plugs three virtual travel itineraries. (photo by Tu Pu-yi)

Chen Chien-pei's Imprisoned Soul features molded statues of the artist facing a central area of lotuses, quietly transcending worldly concerns. (photo by Tu Pu-yi)

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In Yao Jui-chung's Territory Take Over-Maneuver Sequence, a gold model of the Enterprise, a US aircraft carrier that passed through the Taiwan Strait during the mainland's military exercises two years ago, is in the foreground, and in the background are pictures of the artist urinating at various sites where invaders have landed over the course of Taiwan's history.

Venice is a beautiful city and a mecca for tourists. Eighty percent of t he retail businesses here cater to tourists. If not restaurants, they're souvenir shops.

Wu Tien-chang's work Dream of Past Era Ⅱ, uses painting and music to create a heavily nostalgic air. A recording of "Green Island Serenade" is playing, and when the lights suddenly turn off, it as if the woman in the painting has suddenly disappeared, and one is left only with memories. （photo courtesy of Wu Tien-chang）

Lee Ming-tse's work Alternative History of Chinese Scholars makes fun of intellectuals' pretensions and the emptiness of self- reflection. （photo courtesy of Taipei Municipal Art Museum）

In Wang Chun-chieh's Neon Urlaub an oriental beauty wearing metallic clothing politely plugs three virtual travel itineraries. （photo by Tu Pu-yi）

Chen Chien-pei's Imprisoned Soul features molded statues of the artist facing a central area of lotuses, quietly transcending worldly concerns. （photo by Tu Pu-yi）

In Yao Jui-chung's Territory Take Over--Maneuver Sequence, a gold model of the Enterprise, a US aircraft carrier that passed through the Taiwan Strait during the mainland's military exercises two years ago, is in the foreground, and in the background are pictures of the artist urinating at various sites where invaders have landed over the course of Taiwan's history.