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2017 Showcase: Taiwan and Latin America Exchanges

  • Date:2017-11-24
2017 Showcase Taiwan and Latin America Exchanges

The Ministry of Culture showcased the achievements of Taiwan's cultural exchanges with Latin America at the Taipei-based TAF Innovative Base on Nov. 24.


To enhance mutual understanding in culture, arts, history, and societal norms among communities of Latin America, Caribbean, and Taiwan, the Ministry selected ten Taiwan teams to visit Latin American countries this year for cultural exchanges and art projects through a grants program promoting collaboration among personnel from Taiwan and Latin America.


Director General Wu Shao-kai (吳紹開) of the Department of Cultural Exchanges noted that outstanding achievements were made by Taiwan teams in partnerships with individuals or groups from Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, Peru, and Trinidad. He thanked all the teams for engaging in the Latin America program.


In terms of collaboration in visual arts, VT Artsalon (非常廟藝文空間) and Taipei Contemporary Art Center (台北當代藝術中心協會) led Taiwanese artists to hold an exhibition in Mexico.


The Art Shelter and Cinema, which chose to collaborate with Argentina, invited an Argentinean video artist to hold an exhibition under the theme "Argentina Image.” IDOLON STUIDO (歐亞藝術網絡組織), on the other hand, brought Taiwanese artists to participate in an art residency program in Columbia.


Sun Son Theatre (身聲劇場), a musical theater that creates interdisciplinary productions, partnered with Mexican theater artist Adriana Duch Carvallo to present Mayan legends through masked performances.


Uhan Shii Theatre (歡喜扮戲團) invited Argentinean theater director Ana Woolf to perform in Taiwan; the theatre also performed and hosted workshops in Argentina. Lanyang Culture and Education Foundation (蘭陽文教基金會) introduced the timbales performance from Trinidad to Taiwan.


Ayihyanga (艾秧樂集), a group comprising indigenous peoples from different tribes, visited Belize to exchange music with local ethnic groups. Hualien Kiwit Cultural Development Foundation (花蓮縣奇美部落文化發展協會) also visited tribes in Peru to explore local organizations and cooperatives of fair trade.


As one of the participating teams, Kaohsiung Film Archive invited film professionals from Chile, Columbia, and Bolivia to join future editions of its film festival in Taiwan.


The showcase was attended by Representative Juan Luis Kuyeng of the Commercial Office of Peru in Taipei, Director Christophe Cassan of Spain-based BIME music festival, and Barcelona-based designer Patrycja Jrraszczyk, as well as scholars Hung Chun-ming (黃俊銘), Liao Jen-i (廖仁義), and Lin Shen-bin (林盛彬).


Kuyeng noted that he learned about how Taiwanese aboriginal communities promote community-building through fair trade from the presentation given by Hualien Kiwit Cultural Development Foundation.


The three scholars suggested the participating teams to harness social media to spread information and opportunities regarding their cultural exchanges.