Articles

Noise music in Taiwan emerged in the 1990s, a tumultuous period of social upheaval following the lifting of 38 years of martial law. In the frenzied atmosphere of street clashes and political demonstrations, artists explored previously taboo subjects and experimented with radical forms. It was in this context that Taiwan's noise movement was born. Jeph Lo witnessed the evolution and reflects on that messy but protean time. His article is accompanied by photographs of political demonstrations of the period by Leon Tsai and Tsai Ming-Te.

Sumitomo Fumihiko writes about the video works of Okinawan artist Chikako Yamashiro. Sumitomo writes that the artist deals with local political issues and a history of sexual violence by enveloping them into poetic meditations on nature and the instability of human desire.

Paul Celan is often called the greatest of postwar European poets. Barry Schwabsky looks back on Celan's life and work following the 100th anniversary of the poet's birth, and the 50th of his death.

The Brazil-based artist duo Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca produce films blurring the lines between fiction and documentary. Collaborating with their performers, often figures on the margins, the duo creates works that raise notions of visibility, self-representation, and subversion of dominant cultural forms. Marcella Faustini spoke to the artists and wrote about their work.

Roger Boyce interviews Pavel Pepperstein for White Fungus. The enigmatic Russian painter of hallucinatory landscapes is also known as a writer, critic, art theorist, fashion designer, and rapper.

Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs of the last days of the Chinese Civil War were exhibited at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in late 2020. The exhibition was scheduled to be held in Beijing in 2021 but was canceled due to COVID-19. David Frazier writes about the exhibition and its complicated surrounding context.