It’s always a joy to revisit the Grand Courtyard, this time for the exhibition “ Liu Yong – Painting My Childhood “. Liu Yong and his son Liu Xuan gave our members an hour-long Chinese and English tour, definitely royal treatment!
We later enjoyed afternoon tea time at the beautiful glass window café, and over a dozen lucky winners won a copy of Liu Xuan’s bestselling book, with freshly autographed signatures inside the book cover.
Please click on the link below to view the photo album.
We had a great time exploring the old house during the EG tour. The experienced tour guides had shared with us the story of the Lin Family, the architecture of the house, and the efforts to maintain good Feng Shui. We transformed into traditional Chinese Brides as we tried on special wedding dresses and matchmaker dresses at the charming historical surroundings. Please click on the link to see the perfect transformation for your Chinese bridal dresses. We hope you enjoy the trip, we look forward to seeing you next time. https://photos.app.goo.gl/uwhzpEd6MXjCYVGb6
The much anticipated annual Tea Party was successfully held on October 13. Our members enjoyed a great afternoon of music, dance, slideshow and video introduction of Türkiye. In addition, a full course super delicious Turkish set menu was served. Ten Lucky Draw winners went home with a big smile on their face.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Turkish Trade Office Representative Mr. & Mrs. Berdibek and the office staff for extending their strong support for this event. Truly a memorable and joyous afternoon!
Please click on the link below to view the photo album.
A sincere thanks to the members of the Arts & Culture Interest Group and Gourmet Food Club in joining our collaboration visit to the Jewish Community Center on October 3rd, 2022. Please click on the link below to view the photo album.
The Art of Chinese Living – A conversation with Ms Xiang Yao
By Harsha Dass （Spouse of Representative, India-Taipei Association）
It was a wonderful online event organized by the WTIC where they brought us together for an exciting talk by the author of the series, The Art of Chinese Living. Published in Mandarin in two different editions for Taiwan and China, it has now been translated into English and made available to a wider audience worldwide. A Japanese translation is forthcoming. Ms Xiang Yao walked us through not only the book but in answer to the several questions that were asked, she was kind enough to share also the process of writing the book. She explained how the idea came to her when she spent time with her daughter when they were both driving to her university to start a new phase of her life . As an expat Chinese, she felt that her children should have a kind of ready reckoner for everything that summed up being Chinese – food, traditions, festivals, clothes, art and everything else. For a civilization as ancient as China, that was a huge challenge. She likes to put it as a book born out of a mother’s love and her desire to share herself with her family. She set about collecting material, and in the process also had several items specifically designed for the book. One glance through the book and you will appreciate the publishers dilemma in categorizing the book. It is divided into four books, one for each season. Summer winter autumn and spring. Each one has a different color and a different theme, the attention to detail is mind boggling. For instance, the section on food not only has details of food but includes recipes, pictures pots and pans and her experiences from her own garden. The section on family has her own genealogy. Thus at one level the book is universal but as you get immersed in it you understand how personal it is . To give you just one example of how the book is organized, it describes a popular festival, gives recipes of snacks made during the festival and proceeds to tell you all the major authors across time, who wrote on the theme of that festival- love- and ends by describing the author’s own experiences of reading them as a little girl. It took seven years for the book to take this shape and Ms Yao involved gerself with the photographs, the selections, even the colors. Not only is the book packed with information, it is a visual treat as much attention has been paid to the composition, the printing and the texture.It is a testament to what can be achieved with a mother’s love and strength. She also suggested that others should take a cue from her book and use the same arrangement to put together something like this for their own cultures. My personal favorites are the folded pullouts showing a wealth of detail on the topic in a manner that brings together the philosophy of holistic living clearly to those not familiar with this part of the world. It was great to hear all this and more from her. The two hours just flew by. I couldn’t have asked for a better keepsake for my Taiwan stay.Thankyou WTIC for this wonderful opportunity to be a part of her journey.
Thank you for joining us at the Ching Kuo Chi-Hai Cultural Park on Wednesday, what a coincidence, it happened to be Chiang’s birthday on this special day.
The park received its eponymous name from the late president Chiang and his home, the Chi-Hai Residence, which he and his family resided in for 19 years. The house interior was unpretentious, the park also features the first Presidential Library in Taiwan. This library is a center for both scholarly research as well as a ever lasting tribute to the late President Chiang Ching Kuo. We were so honored to receive hearty welcome by the foundation chairman Dr. Fredrick Chien, to hear his speech at presidential library and have a very productive dialogue with our members.
When we reflect on Chiang Ching-Kuo’s life, we have new respect for every individual who has struggled and still struggles on behalf of Taiwan.
On April 7th, the Art & Culture group went to see “The Alive Art in the Renaissance “, our big thanks to the Italian Economic, Trade, and Cultural Promotion Office for facilitating the visit and our Honorary Member Anna Lisa for leading the English tour. Please click the link to see the photo album. 「藝文小組」4月7日在「義大利經濟貿易文化推廣辦事處」的安排下觀賞了「會動的文藝復興」沉浸式展覽，我們特別感謝Anna Lisa代表夫人帶領英文導覽；請點閱精彩照片連結： https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XMPMNQ42M3gYJ2KA
ART & CULTURE INTEREST GROUP
“Alive Art in the Renaissance” Immersive Exhibition at EcoARK Pavilion
台北花博流行館逺東環生方舟「會動的文藝復興」沉浸式光影藝術展
Time & Date: 09:30 am～12:00noon, Thursday, April 7th, 2022
Venue: EcoARK Pavilion (get off at Metro Yuanshan Station’s Exit 1)
Meeting Point: 09:30 am at the ticket booth near the entrance.
Fees: NT$ 500 (Tickets, English audio tour devices, and gift)
Dear Members,
Situated inside the Taipei Flora Expo Park, the nine-story EcoARK Pavilion is currently holding the biggest immersive & multimedia exhibition with 200 plus digital masterpieces from the Renaissance era in Taiwan. The EcoARK itself is a landmark green building of the city, constructed over a decade ago with 1.5 million of recycled PET bottles, and is the world’s first fully functional polli-bricks building.
The immersive sound and light exhibition “Alive Art in the Renaissance” presents viewers with 200 plus classic works from 36 museums, art galleries and private collections around the world. It consists of four sections: 1) A recount of 24 most famous Renaissance era painters and 1:1 duplicates of their masterpieces; 2) An array of HD LED Light Box display of digital artworks; 3) A 5-meter tall room with spectacular visual and Dolby sound effects-displaying 540 degree immersive show of 100 paintings by five Renaissance masters -Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Caravaggio; 4) A circular 9-meter high balloon dome, and the most impressive part of this exhibit : witness Giorgio Vasari’s fresco of “the Last Judgement” from the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower in Florence. For more information, please check: https://youtu.be/846-gT2rbAs(English) & https://www.gbyhn.com.tw/blog/post/2022renaissance
This visit is limited to 40 persons on a first-come, first-serve basis. We are very thankful to our Honorary Member Anna Lisa Giglio Ghini, who has suggested this wonderful program, and she has gracious agreed to lead the English guided tour for 10 members; the other 30 people will be provided with acoustiguide in Chinese language. Please RSVP to this email no later than March 31st (Thursday). This is a visit packed with modern interactive technology-through download marq+ App for augmented reality-the viewers can snap a photo with Mona Lisa and see snake-haired Medusa come to life, so please do come on the journey with us!
本次活動感謝本會榮譽會員Anna Lisa Giglio Ghini夫人推薦大家來體驗這場精彩的聲光秀，並親自為十位會員做英文導覽、另安排30具中文語音導覽機，讓大家自由觀賞。這項展覽有些有趣的互動式設計，可以先在手機上下載marq+ App掃描：Raphael’s “the School of Athens”, Botticelli’s “the Birth of Venus”, Caravaggio’s “Medusa”這三幅畫，看看有什麼噱頭；或者跟穿運動衫的Mona Lisa勾肩搭背拍照。在此愛心叮嚀：觀賞沉浸式的展覽，或許會覺得流動的光影讓人眼花撩亂，主辦人員提醒大家不妨坐在地毯上看。本活動名額為40人，敬請大家在3月31日（週四）前回覆本電郵報名，名額有限、報名請早，謝謝您的參與。
Dali & Mucha’s Special Exhibitions at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
中正紀念堂兩大特展：超現實主義「天才達利」與新藝術運動「永恆慕夏」
Time & Date:13:30pm ～16:00 pm, Tuesday, March 1st, 2022
Venue: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (No.21, Zhongshan S Rd., Zhongzheng Dist.)
Fees: NT$ 500 (includes: Tickets & Audio guide devices for two exhibitions)
Meeting Point: 13:30pm at the entrance for Dali Exhibit (Gallery 2-3 on the ground floor)
Dear Members,
While most of us remain grounded yet dream of taking flights to see the great museums abroad in the age of the epidemic, we are truly fortunate to be able to see the most notable Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dali and Czech Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha- two iconic artists’ works being shown just across the hallway from each other. Dali’s exhibition includes a short film he created in collaboration with Walt Disney, sculptures, stage designs, and the 100 watercolors he painted inspired by the Divine Comedy. You can also catch Dali’s famous 1979 oil painting: “In Search of the Fourth Dimension”, which features the “melting clock” that Dali is most known for.
Alphonse Mucha’s “Timeless Mucha- Mucha to Manga: the Magic of Line” exhibition consists of five sections. There are more than 200 painting, posters, decorative panels, pastels, drawings and illustrations selected by the Mucha Foundation. A distinctive feature of Mucha’s style was his use of long tendrils of hair, flowers, plants and flowing garments to portray women. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements and designs. For more info: https://www.alfonsmucha.org/biography.html
We are very thankful to collaborate with our dear Consulting Advisor Ms. Lisette Lou to combine these two exhibitions in one visit, and there will be English & Chinese guided tours for both exhibitions. Because these are two separated exhibitions, we will need time to arrange the audio devices; we kindly ask you to follow your group closely and not stray too far. As some of the exhibition rooms are not spacious, this visit is limited to 30 persons on a first-come, first-serve basis.Please RSVP to this email no later than February 24th (Thursday). Thank you so much, and Susan and I wish you all a very Happy Lunar New Year holidays.
