In cooperation with the Taichung-based National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, a Taiwanese photography and audiovisual arts exhibition titled "Behind the Mask: Rose of Modernity" was held at the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center (Ploshchad Mira) as part of the Russian museum's 13th biennale from Sept. 18 through Nov. 18.
Situated in Siberia, the Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale is one of Russia's longest-running art biennales. This year, at the invitation-only section of the 13th edition, 95 individual artworks by 35 Taiwanese artists were chosen for their insights on the nation's social transformations and challenges since the 1960s, their delineation of Taiwan's photographic history and developmental stages, and their ability to garner interest for future Taiwan-Russia cultural exchanges.
"Behind the Mask: Rose of Modernity" was devised by three guest curators — Andrey Martynov, Yunnia Yang (楊衍畇), and Sergey Kovalevsky — and drew on psychologist Erving Goffman's dramaturgical theory to investigate interpersonal relationships, social interactions, and the interplay between everyday practice and theatrical gestures. The question as to how photographers become "mediators" in Goffman's analysis was also addressed by the exhibition.
Encompassing half a century of Taiwanese photography from 1962 through 2016, the exhibition featured both veteran and up-and-coming artists including Chang Chao-tang (張照堂), Chang Chien-chi (張乾琦), Chou Ching-hui (周慶輝), Hsieh Chun-te (謝春德), Sheng Chao-liang (沈昭良), Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中), Daniel Lee (李小鏡), Kao Chung-li (高重黎), Mei Dean-e (梅丁衍), Wu Tien-chang (吳天章), Yuan Goang-ming (袁廣鳴), and Isa Ho (何孟娟).
The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts hopes that through this collaboration with the Siberia-based Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, Russian exhibition-goers will gain a better understanding of Taiwan through the conduit of art. More photos from the event are available on the biennale's website: http://biennale.ru/foto14.