55 works showcased at Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition until Nov. 4

55 works showcased at Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition until Nov. 4

2023-10-23

The 2023 Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition held its awards ceremony last Friday, unveiling 55 outstanding works. This year’s winners achieved significant advancements in artistic expression and form. They represent a diverse range of mediums and techniques, and display a heightened attunement with the times. The works will be on display until Nov. 4, providing an immersive experience in the charm of art.

A performer showcases strength and beauty at the Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition’s award ceremony. This year’s competition drew entries not only from Taoyuan, but also across Taiwan and the world.

Wang Li-chuan
Taoyuan Dept. of Cultural Affairs deputy head
We saw tremendous advancement in the creativity of artistic expression and in breakthroughs in form.

Aimed at nurturing artistic talent and promoting cultural events, the Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition is a visual arts competition with a long history. This year’s event was themed on three-dimensional and multimedia works. Fifty-five outstanding pieces were chosen for achieving breakthroughs, being highly relevant to the times, and bringing forth novel insights.

Tsai Pei-kuei
NKNU Graduate Institute of Trandisciplinary Art director
We can see that these artists do not have overly socialized, stereotyped styles of creation. There is still a lot of exploratory thinking. We can see many emerging and maturing forms of art here.

This year’s works stand out for their diverse mediums and rich techniques, as well as for balancing tradition and innovation. The artists displayed a high degree of sensitivity to social issues, making their works more artistically relevant and contemporary.

Chang San-cheng
Taoyuan mayor
We hope to gradually build up Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition, elevating this competition to the international stage. In the future, our culture will be seen globally. When people think of Taoyuan, they will know that Taoyuan has great depth, that it’s a city with a rich cultural heritage.

The works will be on display until Nov. 4. The Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition aims to showcase boundless artistic energy, cementing Taoyuan’s reputation as a top city for art.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2023桃源美展55件作品獲獎展出至11/4

2023-10-23

「2023桃源美展」20號舉行頒獎典禮，一共選出55件得獎作品。今年的作品藝術創造力與形式表現都有長足進步，以多樣且豐富的媒材與技法表現，聚焦對於時代的關注，作品將一路展出到11月4號，感受藝術魅力。

表演者在舞台上展現力與美，為「2023桃源美展」頒獎典禮揭開序幕，今年有來自桃園、全台其他縣市，甚至國際藝術家一同參賽。

[[桃園市文化局副局長王麗娟]]
“我們看到說，所有這些藝術表現的創造力，或者是形式的突破上，都有非常長足的一個進步。”

培育藝術人才，推廣藝文活動，桃源美展為歷史悠久的視覺藝術競賽，今年以「立體與影像多媒體類」為主題，評選出55件優秀作品，創造突破有別以往，更加聚焦對時代的關注，激發許多新思維。

[[高雄師範大學跨領域藝術研究所長蔡佩桂]]
“我們可以看到這些藝術家，還沒有非常的社會化的那一種定型式的創作，還有很多探索性的思維，所以我們可以看到很多，藝術的原型在這裡，正要冒現正要成熟。”

今年讓人眼睛為之一亮的，除了運用多樣且豐富的媒材與技術手法，還有傳承與創新的投入，對藝術與社會問題保持高度的敏銳度，讓作品更具藝術性與當代性。

[[桃園市長張善政]]
“我們希望把我們這個桃源美展，逐漸打造成一個國際矚目的比賽。未來我們的文化，在國際上面，能夠被國際友人看到，變成我們國家，人家講到桃園，就知道說，桃園是一個內涵非常豐富，底蘊非常豐富的一個城市。”

桃源美展作品將一路展出到11月4號，也將持續打開無可限量的藝術能量，成就桃園，成為藝術文化首善之都。

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As hegemony expands in the South and East China Seas and in the Indo-Pacific region, taking action to support Taiwan is tremendously meaningful. Recently, Lithuania’s foreign ministry released its Indo-Pacific strategy, stressing the goals of security, resilience and prosperity. We look forward to stronger cooperation between Taiwan and Lithuania.

Lai thanked Lithuania for taking concrete action in support of Taiwan. The Lithuanian delegation has a four-day itinerary in Taiwan, and is scheduled to visit the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday to deepen bilateral exchanges.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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DPP condemns China’s Hon Hai tax audit as interference in Taiwan election

The DPP has condemned China’s recent tax audit on Hon Hai, the company founded by independent presidential candidate Terry Gou. At a press conference on Monday, DPP lawmakers said China was using economic pressure to interfere in Taiwan’s election. According to lawmakers, Beijing aims to force Gou to quit the race, to pave the way for a joint ticket between the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party.

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By conducting tax and land inspections on Hon Hai, the CCP is basically giving direct orders. It’s as if the only option were an alliance between the KMT and TPP, and not one between Gou and Ko.

The DPP legislative caucus condemned China’s unexpected probe into Hon Hai’s taxes. Lawmakers say Beijing is trying to interfere in Taiwan’s elections via economic means, to force candidates into political moves.

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Terry Gou and his group announced that Tammy Lai had renounced her U.S. citizenship. And right after, Beijing intervened to promote a KMT-TPP alliance in hopes of uniting all the opposition parties to challenge the ruling party.

China has been closely watching Taiwan’s elections. On Aug. 28, Gou announced he intended to run for president as an independent candidate. On Aug. 30, the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Song Tao, directed veiled criticism at Gou, saying, “Disloyalty and ingratitude bring calamity to heaven and humankind.” On Oct. 20, Gou disclosed preliminary talks on a joint ticket with Ko Wen-je. Two days later, China launched a tax audit on Hon Hai.

Liu Shih-fang
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According to the Global Times report, we don’t think the probe was started by the Taiwan Affairs Office, but by the CCP leadership. This is not the approach they usually use to interfere in Taiwan’s politics through economic pressure. What they want to do is to pressure Terry Gou and Tammy Lai to quit the presidential election, after they’ve collected enough signatures to run.

Wang Mei-hua
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The Industrial Development Administration contacted Hon Hai yesterday, and Hon Hai released a statement. I think the company itself will respond to the probe. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will keep monitoring the situation.

In a statement released on Sunday, Hon Hai stressed that legal compliance was one of its fundamental principles, adding that it would cooperate with the relevant units.

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Fish farmer innovates grouper fishing with new breeds and facilities

You may remember in 2022 China banned grouper fish imports from Taiwan, in an effort to hit Taiwan economically. Grouper fish are a lucrative industry that once relied on exports to China. But fish farmers have pivoted to new methods to head off the threat. Today we meet one farmer who has innovated so elegantly, his peers call him the “Grouper King.” He actually began to switch his methods six years ago, when he realized that Chinese farms were starting to cultivate the most common grouper breeds. So Tai Kun-tsai found new breeds, to export to countries like Japan and Singapore. And along with his family, he’s embraced cutting edge processes to make sure his business is ahead of the times.

It was six years ago that Tai Kun-tsai, the “Grouper King,” realized Chinese farmers were cultivating large numbers of giant groupers, tiger groupers, and yellow groupers. So he got out of the giant grouper business, and started to develop the speckled blue and cucumber groupers instead, succeeding in artificial breeding programs. And now that China has banned Taiwan grouper, his exports are doing well.

Tai Kun-tsai
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Right now we sell cucumber grouper live. We can produce cold chain fish. We send them to Japan and Singapore.

Tai’s daughter, Tai Tzu-ying, is taking some grouper fry to the vet for diagnosis. This is the Fish Disease and Aquaculture Safety Testing Center, set up by the company. It applies the maxim “prevention is better than cure” to aquaculture.

Tai Tzu-ying
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We detect health problems in the fish at an early stage. We don’t wait to lose large numbers of fish before we start to put medicine in or start to treat them.

Early testing also helps prevent any traces of medicines being detected when the fish are exported.

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For the export fish, we always bring them into the factory first, to clean out any food in their digestive tract. That means less chance they’ll expel foods during transit.

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Tai Kun-tsai
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I don’t so much care about the cost. Convenience matters to me more.

Currently, four airlines run direct flights to Tokyo International Airport. Besides Taiwan’s EVA Air and China Airlines, there’s Japan Airlines and ANA. Each has two roundtrip flights a day. Passenger load factors have been exceptionally high, with Japanese carriers exceeding 90% due to their vast offering of connecting flights.

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Before the pandemic, many Taiwanese airlines flew directly to Japan’s local airports. Unfortunately, due to manpower shortages at local airports during the pandemic, not all of those direct flights have been restored. But this issue doesn’t affect Japan Airlines’ domestic routes – there is no manpower shortage at any connecting airport.

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Huang Ssu-yu
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We were rescuing cats in university, so after that we decided that if we’re going to rescue them then we should do it properly. So we got lots of training, and then we opened up this shelter. We hope that every cat we give away really finds a wonderful home.

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Taking care of all these little cuties is expensive. Just the food and litter costs Huang NT$20,000-30,000 a month. On top of that is venue rental and the tests and vaccinations for each new arrival. Special medical treatments are always a big expense. The shelter is a cat cafe, which does provide a little financial help. But for Huang, the main thing is that her feline friends can live and grow up in good health.

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There have been some cats which were in very bad condition when they came, or very aggressive or difficult. And in the end when we gave them away, the owners would later send us such cute photos of them. You see they’re in their new home rolling around on the floor and living a great life. And then you really feel that you accomplished something great.

The shelter has been open six years and has successfully found new homes for more than 400 cats. Huang has stringent rules for adoption, to ensure potential owners will be able to take great care of their new friend. For the cats that land in this shelter, the good days are just beginning.

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Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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The tufting teacher explains how you must ensure the yarn is properly threaded before starting work.

The tufting gun moves slowly through the fabric, leaving its track visible, but it’s no simple task to control its force and keep the gun stable.

Beginners often slip up because they don’t press the gun into the fabric. But you quickly get the hang of it once you get used to the feeling of the gun in your hand, the teacher says. When the shape is complete, you use a special rug glue to fix the picture and make sure the yarn doesn’t fray.

The rug is dried and then cut out and trimmed, and the piece is complete! Store owner Hans was born in 1997, and his first job was street performance.

You might have seen him bringing the house down with tricks like this in Xinyi District. But in May 2022, the pandemic hit performers hard, and Hans was left with no income, which led him to get into tufting.

Hans
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I love handicrafts and making things with my hands, myself, so I thought I’d bring this thing which I saw abroad to Taiwan and give it a try. More and more people asked me about it, so I thought I’d try opening a store. There were lots of designs that we wanted to try out and we developed, and that was quite hard work. So that slowed us down a lot at first.

After many months setting up, Hans and his team finally opened Taiwan’s first tufting store. They stock more than 50 different yarn colors. The new craft has gained popularity as a soothing and relaxing hobby during and since the pandemic.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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