Due East 2021 - Taiwan

Mission:

Due East seeks to examine how contemporary Taiwanese artists are reflecting upon the changes unfolding in this tumultuous time, and how their art depicts the present, past, and future of the island. In addition, foreign artists will create additional perspectives, creating new work about their experiences in Taiwan after spending at least a month living there. Works from insider and outsider perspectives about Taiwan will be curated into an exhibition in 2021 at Absolute Art Space in Tainan, Taiwan.

Taiwan was chosen because of its fascinating mix of Aboriginal, Chinese, Japanese, and Western culture. Through various disciplines (sculpture, film, installation, performance, painting, and drawing) artists will explore issues of cultural belonging and separation, as well as universal truths that unite us beyond culture, memory, and time; opening up new possibilities and bridges of communication.

Due East is the third project in a quartet of volcanic island explorations: Due North, Due South, Due East, Due West. Once again, we will be bringing artists together from around the globe to dialogue and create work about a specific place from insider and outsider perspectives.

Due East, like Due North and Due South, moves beyond fixed curatorial concepts to explore new methods of curating and art making with an emphasis on freedom, exploration, and risk taking. Participating foreign artists are encouraged to do a residency on the island, to create new relationships, and to expand their practices by creating new work. Selected contemporary artists from Taiwan will be invited to show current work, and interact with their counterparts. Over the course of three years, all of the artists dialogue with each other and the curator (who is also an artist), resulting in an organically rich exhibition.

The curator has chosen to explore volcanic islands because they have a heightened allure. "Volatile geology has a tendency to breed isolationism, a sense of pride and distrust, but also a glorious independence and passion. Our hope is that as we navigate unknown territory, we will be able to reshape fixed notions and create new contexts, experiencing both ourselves and others anew." 

Image on Home Page by Chia-En Jao. Head of bronze horse of Taiwan Gokoku Jinjya; ominous baby skull; Mikado pheasant discovered by British ornithologist Walter Goodfellow in 1906; head of bronze bull of Taiwan Grand Shrine; severed bronze head of Chiang Kai-Shek; head of raw barbarian severed by cooked barbarian.

Watercolor on paper, 56.5 x 76 cm, 2017

Due North explored Iceland, Due South, Sicily.

Some reviews:

http://www.theartblog.org/2017/08/chicago-bound-independent-curator-marianne-bernstein-on-her-projects-in-philadelphia-iceland-and-sicily/

https://www.theartblog.org/2017/08/marianne-bernstein-on-curating-art-in-public-spaces-part-2/

https://hyperallergic.com/373964/due-south-the-delaware-contemporary-2017/