So day 1 in Taiwan started with an old reunion breakfast with British artist (and previous Manchester rogue studio artist) Ross Mcarry followed by my first day of the Curators and Institutions forums at Taipei Contemporary Art Centre. The days speakers were a mixture of new and old faces to me. Cosmin Costinas from Parasite arts space in Hong Kong shared the history and current programming at the arts space, and it was clear that a strong sense of art history and social politics led to the strength and vibrancy of their programming. A familiar face to Chinese Arts Centre and the Aisa Triennial Manchester 2011, was second speaker Mirwan Andan. Andan was here to talk about arts collective and non-for profit organisation Ruangrupa from Indonesia. The group were initiated in 2000, and establshed themselves quickly amonst the indonesian arts scene as the leadning DIY ground level arts organisation. Their eclectic programming, festivals and projects were a kin to the likes of Islington Mill in Salford (even down to its own gallery come gig venue).
Meiya Cheng from Taipei Contemporary Arts Centre finished the days presentations by focusing on two Taipei artists whose work looked closely into responding to real social movements of every day society. For me this was the most resonant topic, particulalry listening to artists’ Yao Jui-Chung and Kao Jun-Honn, discuss their projects as ‘collective curation’ where the artists are learning just as much from the participants involved in the project as the participants are learning from the artists. Yao Jui-Chung has been working with a host of students, teaching them key photography skills and sending them off to photography abandoned or disused buildings in Taiwan, of which there are plenty. These collective images work together as a published book work, which are then sent on to the local goverment and authorities in a hope that something will be done to utilisie and re-invest in these abandoned buildings. For Yao whether this project was seen as an artististic project or not became irrelevant; what mattered was the social effect it could have on its particpants and the wider public involved in it.
Certainly food for thought for a first day in Taipei and an altogether very international curatorial programme of events.
