Taipei Cultural Center in New York Presents [和heʼ] Contemporary Art Exhibition and Film Screenings on Multiculturalism and Immigration


和 (he’) in Mandarin Chinese can be translated into, among other things, “with.”

The Taipei Cultural Center in New York presents a contemporary art exhibition and film screenings centered on “multiculturalism and immigration” from May 18–June 22. This series of events aim to capture the impacts of globalization on Taiwanese society through various lenses, and through the perspectives of the participating artists.

[和heʼ] presents a diverse collection of mediums including photography, videography, art installation, and sculpture. The exhibition uses Taiwan as a subject to question our ideas and interpretations of commonality, of being-in-common without presuming a common-being, of searching for commonality without defining that one specific thing we all share in common.

Curated by FOGSTAND Gallery, the contemporary art exhibition [和heʼ] features 9 artists : Chang En-Man, Lee Jo-Mei, Lin Jin-Da (from Taiwan), Joo Choon Lin, Chun Kai Feng (Singapore), Song-Yun Kim (Korea), Fiona Burke (Ireland), Samuel Weinburg, and Brandon Cramm(USA). These artists each put forward different reflections on different contemporary cultural issues such as geographical location, social environment and identity in response to the trend of globalization.

As of now, the foreign worker population in Taiwan has grown to over six hundred thousand people, yet they exist outside of Taiwanese society. Alongside the exhibition, 4 films and documentaries, “See You, Lovable Strangers,” “Stilt,” and “Towards the Sun,” have been selected for screening. The first 3 films examine the challenges new immigrants face in Taiwan, as well as the issues of the rural-urban divide. The fourth film “Black Bear Forest” addresses the relationship between humans and the natural environment by taking the audience into the world of an indigenous tribe—Bunun, and the life of Taiwan’s very own protected animal, the black bear.

This exhibition transgresses the concept of nationality and the boundary of artistic discipline, fully embodying the vigor of Taiwanese contemporary art. The selected films focusing on the cultures of new immigrants, foreign workers, foreign spouses, and indigenous peoples, and on the issue of ecological protection, highlight the multicultural, inclusive and innovative spirit of Taiwan in relation to its geographical position in East Asia.

Exhibition Information

和 [heʼ]
May 18–June 22, 2018
Taiwan Academy in New York (1 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017)
Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday 9:30am–5:30pm

Film Screenings + Artists Talk: Saturday, May 19, 2-5pm
Queens Museum(New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368)
Admission and events are free to the public.

Films Screenings:

1.《See you, Lovable Strangers》(62 min)+ 《Towards the Sun》(28 min)
Thursday, May 31st , 6:30 pm
2.《Stilt》(108 min)
 Thursday, June 7th, 6:30 pm,
3. 《Black Bear Forest》(126 min)
 Thursday, June 21st , 6:30 pm
Venue: Taiwan Academy, B1 Screening Room
(1 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017)

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