Organized by Taipei Economic and Culture Office in Malaysia and curated by INXO Arts and Culture Foundation, the 56th edition of Tea Philo invited Catherine Lee (李曉雯), the director of Taipei Artist Village (TAV) and Treasure Hill Artist Village (THAV), to speak on the theme "Artist in Residency While COVID-19 Spreading" and exchange thoughts with Wendy Teo (張文婷), the founder of Think & Tink (思造坊).
TAV was established in 2001 when the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government introduced the concept of artist-in-residence and reutilized the vacant former office building to make it a place where artists could create and live. The first public-funded artist village consists of three multifunctional exhibition halls and 13 workshops, dance studios, piano rooms, and darkrooms for different types of artists. In 2009, Treasure Hill was also developed as an artist village. During the talk, Lee shared how the projects "Cultural Diversity and Inclusivity Residency Program," "South Taipei Residency Program," and others run during the pandemic, and reevaluated the essence of artist-in-residence and its future trend.
Before assuming the current job position, Lee worked at Bamboo Curtain Studio and has been keeping track of the global trend of artist residencies and promoting artist-in-residence projects to connect the local community with the world. Teo, the host of the session, is also the curator of Borneo Laboratory and the founder of Think & Tink. Her creative works and teaching focus on integrating community involvement and promoting craft innovation. Teo returned to her hometown Kuching in 2017 with the awareness of the lack of platforms for artists to exchange their thoughts. Thus, she transformed the Ting & Ting Supermarket into Think & Tink for creative artists to start an open dialogue and collaborate.