Ron Hanson

In the space of only a few years, Taipei Popcorn, the creation of New Zealander Nick van Halderen, has emerged as one of Taiwan’s most iconic drag queens. Whether performing at underground clubs, doing photo shoots for Vogue, or starring in art films, Popcorn has become an omnipresent and pivotal figure in the island’s vibrant queer culture. Yet surprisingly, prior to relocating to Taiwan, Van Halderen had never ventured into the world of drag. White Fungus editor Ron Hanson spoke with Popcorn about their unusual journey and gained a window into their personal transformation and Taiwan’s surging queer scene.

Taipei-based artist Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos) creates work dealing with the impact of colonization on the First Nations Atayal people of Taiwan while exploring the possibilities within her Indigenous culture for activating a queer space. In Lin's recent artworks, she seeks to recreate the spirit of Temahahoi, a place, according to Atayal oral stories, where a self-governed community of women resided independent of men.

Taiwan-based independent arts magazine White Fungus returns to print for the first time since the pandemic with the release of its 17th issue. The new issue is available for purchase now at the White Fungus online shop.

Nicholas Thoburn's "Anti-Book" is a 'book' that interrogates the book-form. In his critique of this beloved commodity, Thoburn challenges our understanding of books as transcendent moral and aesthetic objects unsullied by commerce. Rather, he says, books are pulsing with capitalist relations. Thoburn proposes instead a "communism of textual matter". White Fungus editor Ron Hanson has been corresponding with Thoburn and, in the first of a series of articles based on this communication, introduces Thoburn's concept of the anti-book and its historical precedents.

In one of her last major interviews, Carolee Schneemann spoke to White Fungus editor Ron Hanson and looked back on her life, stretching back to her early childhood drawings and adolescent adventures in Mexico.

An exhibition by Chiu Lin-yao focused on the materiality of objects and the physical processes of change.