桃園市美術館 Logo

Organized by Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts (TMoFA), the 2021 Taoyuan International Art Award garnered much attention from artists worldwide during the open call for entries in 2020 and received over six hundred entries from forty-six countries. Seventeen finalists have been selected by an international jury committee and are now showcased in the award exhibition at Taoyuan Arts Center beginning from March 13 onward. The award ceremony was also held at the first floor of Taoyuan Arts Center, at 2:30 on the opening day of the exhibition. During the award ceremony, the Grand Prize winner was announced, who was presented with a monetary prize of NTD$ 500,000. Also announced in the ceremony were the three winners of Honorable Mention, respectively received a monetary prize of NTD$ 120,000, and one winner of the Sojourn Award, with a monetary prize of NTD$ 150,000. Artists who were not able to attend the event in person due to the pandemic joined the ceremony via videoconferencing. At the same time, the ceremony was livestreamed online so that artists in countries around the world could partake in the celebration. A special guided tour given by the convener of the jury committee, Professor CHEN Yung Hsien of the National Taiwan University of Arts, was also joined by guests and audiences after the ceremony.

The seventeen finalist works were respectively created by artists from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the United States, Portugal, Latvia and Greece, with diversified forms of art practice ranging from two-dimensional painting, three-dimensional installation, photography to video. The artists completed the installation of their artworks at Taoyuan Arts Center either in person or via videoconferencing. Facing the severe situation of the pandemic, the installation of the exhibition challenged the artists’ endurance as well as their sensitivity to the space. Eventually, their works have demonstrated artistic tension in a previously unencountered site, and displayed the most forward-looking and experimental art creation through the construction of the atmosphere, introducing fresh diversity into the Taoyuan International Art Award.

The winner of the Grand Prize this year is the video installation, Going Home, by TING Chaong Wen (Taiwan), which reveals the interweaving reality and fictionality in a historic site to discuss the ideology of a country’s ruler. Lived Absence of Objects by Sara WU (Taiwan), The People’s Collection(Taiwan) by Ana MENDES (Portugal) and Disposable Monument II (After the Boys Who Wore Gray) by Lewis COLBURN (United States) won the Honorable Mentions. Through displaying a living space, WU’s work extends traces of fragments in life and explores how messages are unfolded and hidden in objects, reflecting on the state of contemporary life. MENDES’ work invites the audience to mail postcards printed with museum objects to Western museums that house these objects, and further demand the museums to return these objects to the colonized countries, engaging the audience in contemplating on issues related to post-colonialism, memory and identity. COLBURN deconstructs a monument statue depicting a Confederate soldier in Durham, North Carolina, and prompts thinking about the problem of racism faced by the United States today as well as the country’s history of slavery, inviting all to further examine the meaning of “monuments.” The artworks on view in the exhibition convey the artists’ observations of societies and their personal feelings, showing diverse creativity and profound thinking. Moreover, in the cultural context of Taoyuan, these works have derived more and multilayered meanings as well.

The exhibition of the 2021 Taoyuan International Art Award is now on view at the first floor of Taoyuan Arts Center until April 18 (Sun.). An online and onsite voting to select the “Audience Choice Award” is specially planned and invites art enthusiasts from Taiwan and abroad to select their favorite works during the length of the exhibition. The voters will have a chance to win limited editions of cultural and creative products designed by TMoFA. Furthermore, the museum has organized talks and guided tours featuring the award winners, which are to be held on holidays to lead the audience to explore the artworks in the Taoyuan International Art Award as well as the artists’ creative process. For more detail information, please continue following the updates on the official website of TMoFA (https://tmofa.tycg.gov.tw/en) or the TMoFA Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/tmofa10711/).