Minister of Culture attends ‘South-ing’ exhibition, encourages local artists
On June 21, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te visited Eagle Art Space in Kaohsiung to attend the "South-ing" exhibition being held by local artists including Lin Hsi-chun (林熺俊) and curated by Pablo Hung (洪明爵). While there, he engaged the artists and curator in an exchange of ideas, gaining new insights on their creative ideas and the current conditions of Taiwan's artistic and cultural realm.
Since taking office, the Minister has made a number of visits to artists and art spaces. Through these, he aims to lay the groundwork for a renewed focus on north-south balance in cultural development efforts, gain a deeper understanding of the latest conditions, and work on joint efforts to promote the growth of the visual arts in Taiwan.
With a private enterprise offering a permanent space for artistic exhibitions such as this one, Minister Lee remarked, they are showing that such enterprises can be an important force in providing support for the arts. Culture and the arts should be nurtured across the land, he continued, and through a focus on art events in southern Taiwan, he hopes to get a real understanding of the situation of southern artists and their needs.
This understanding will then feed into efforts to promote the arts, including a tax system tailored to the art market, expansion of incentives, and other possible options to help provide more robust resources and support for the industry.
Hung, curator of "South-ing," is building on the "greater south" concept recently in play at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, by curating an exhibition that presents a diversity of historical perspectives on southern Taiwan. Echoing the "greater south" spirit, each of the participating artists has provided suggestions for developing the arts locally.
There is great potential in the region, and it is hoped that with the government giving renewed attention to north-south balance of resource distribution, such efforts will also help southern artists reach out across Taiwan and around the world.
"South-ing" runs through July 31 at Eagle Art Space in Kaohsiung.