TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Hungary's Ludwig Museum has partnered with Taipei's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) to showcase works that illustrate Taiwan's artistic developments over time. The exhibition, "Before the Storm: Taiwan on the Frontier of Past and Future," takes viewers across history, including the cultural impact of Taiwan's Indigenous peoples, colonization, the dramatic historical events of the early 20th century, and the formation of Taiwan's modern sense of identity and technological society. The exhibition will be held until March 29 this year.
The curators include Krisztina Szipocs, an art historian and curator who has been working at the Ludwig Museum since 1994. Serving as the museum's deputy director since 2016, she has organized numerous exhibitions showcasing the Ludwig Museum's works worldwide. Another curator is Hu Yung-Fen, who is an independent curator. She also serves as a cultural policy critic and director of the Hualien Culture and Arts Foundation.
The exhibition showcases diverse works, including videos, installations, interactive projects, and animations, alongside older techniques such as painting and sculpture. One notable piece is "The Cycle of Life" by Yuma Taro, an Indigenous artist dedicated to studying and recreating the traditional woven textiles of the Atayal tribe. The piece shows the airborne suspension of flowing woven fabrics. The Atayal believe in a close connection between life and the act of weaving.
Another piece, "Music While We Work" by Hong-Kai Wang, invited retired Taisugar employees and their spouses to record themselves creating a soundscape at one of the few sugar factories remaining in Taiwan. Sugar production was a major economic industry in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial time, and the decline of the sugar industry has led to the gradual disappearance of communities built around this commodity. Other artworks explore the impact of war on Taiwan, the Sunflower Movement, and Taiwan's ecology.