Relational Field: The Cultural Landscape of New Taipei in the 1990s│401│The Reform of the Taipei County Art Exhibition and the Environmental Art Festival

The Reform of the Taipei County Art Exhibition and the Environmental Art Festival [The script of this episode] The timeline in front of you shows how, beginning in the 1990s, the Taipei County Cultural Center reformed its art exhibition system to emphasize environmentally reflective themes. These reforms encouraged artists to engage with social issues and environmental concerns, opening up broader, freer directions for artistic practice at the time. Within the timeline section, you’ll find a map of the Tamsui River basin, including the Keelung River, Dahan River, and Xindian River. This map originally appeared in the 1993 exhibition catalogue View on the Tamsui River in 50 Years, curated by Chang Chao-tang and Liu Chen-hsiang. The exhibition featured photography related to the Tamsui River, and the map was printed across a full spread in the catalogue, marking the locations where the photographs were taken. It visually captured the cultural landscapes of the Tamsui River across different historical periods. Looking back today, this river basin map has come to symbolize the 1990s concept of a watershed-based cultural landscape. Next, take a look at the brochures for the Taipei County Art Exhibition displayed in the case. These are from 1993 to 1997, and you’ll notice that each year brought subtle changes. The most significant turning point came in 1994, when the exhibition adopted the approach of responsible art critic. That year, the organizers eliminated the traditional classification by medium and the multi-judge evaluation system, replacing them with two categories: an open call and a special call. Art critics Lien Te-cheng and Ni Tsai-chin were invited to serve as jurors for each category, with Ni also curating the special call, which focused on environmental art. This reform sparked heated debate at the time. In response, a group of young artists even organized an alternative Exhibition of Artworks Rejected by the Taipei County Art Exhibition, calling on all rejected applicants to join the exhibition as a form of protest, questioning the legitimacy and fairness of the newly reformed system. ---------- Relational Field: The Cultural Landscape of New Taipei in the 1990s 2025.08.16-12.21 ｜Curator｜ WANG Pin-hua ｜Artists｜ WANG Fujui, WU Mali, LIN Chi-wei, YAO Jui-Chung, KAO Jun-honn, HUANG Ming-chuan, LIU Chen-hsiang ｜Oral Archive Providers｜ Sisy CHEN, CHIEN Ming-hui ｜More Information｜https://ntcart.museum/EN/exhibition/H2507001