Description: The Institute of Contemporary Arts officially opened in Taipei in May 2001, and I happened to attend the lively grand opening. This cultural center of cutting-edge art is housed in a recycled historical brick building that housed the former City Hall.
The opening exhibition, "The Gravity of the Immaterial", is a sampler of what's hot in the current contemporary arts scene amongst Taiwanese artists, locally and around the world. I have always been fascinated by art gallery openings, because the people attending the opening can be as interesting as the art itself. The event of the opening can even be perceived as an essential part or an outgrowth of the actual art. This evening's crowd was artsy, dressed in typical black, and split evenly between ethnic Taiwanese and expats, with the biggest gathering of non-Chinese I have seen in Taiwan. The festivities included speeches, fireworks, and television coverage.
One of the most interesting installations is "Eva Returns to Wonderland 2001" by the artist Jun T T Lai. This installation is basically a bedroom-sized space featuring a white feathery carpet. There were quite a few kids (and some adults) bouncing around the carpet as if they were at some amusement park. A trail of feathers was tracked out of the room throughout the building, an unintentional (or intentional?) extension of the artwork.
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