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The Oceans and the Interpreters

“The Oceans and the Interpreters” endeavors to respond to The Interpreters (1965) by the Nigerian author Wole Soyinka, which talks about several friends of different professions returning to the newly established Nigeria after their study abroad and how they are lost in the identity maze of an emerging nation. “The Oceans and the Interpreters” can be seen as the journey to the pan-African cultural circle the curator embarked on since 2017 and the research result of that phase. In this exhibition, aside from introducing African and Caribbean arts to Asian audiences, it further aims to probe into the artistic perspectives of African-Asian relationships.
The ocean, as a neutral landscape, is nevertheless connected to speech. It has witnessed the rise and fall of nation-states on the continents as well. The narrative of this exhibition seeks to employ the history of the trans-Atlantic African cultural circle as the point of departure, treating the region of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean as a kind of mirror world. In addition to the attempt to contemplate the African-Asian relationship in contemporary history, it stresses on the winding paths of the African cultural circle and the Asian counterpart as the observer/observee and their interpretations of each other. The exhibition hopes its viewers will come to realize that it is Africa as well as Asia here; it is the modern Tower of Babel as well as a land of exile; it is the ocean as well as a place for the interpreters’ soliloquy.
As a beneficiary of the curatorial program of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, “The Oceans and the Interpreters” is an exhibition of the results produced from the residency research in 2019. A video art exchange exhibition was organized in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Following the trade route that has existed since ancient times, this exhibition will travel to South Asia and the coast of West Africa for display in 2023.
Artists
AU Sow Yee 區秀詒 / Malaysia, Taiwan
CHANG En Man 張恩滿 + Temitayo Ogunbiyi / Taiwan + Nigeria
CHE Onejoon 崔元準 / Korea
LIN Jin Da + YU Cheng Che 林仁達+余政哲 / Taiwan
Salah Elmur / Sudan
Mulugeta Gebrekidan / Ethiopia
HOO Fan Chon 符芳俊 / Malaysia
Tirzo Martha / Curaçao
Naeem Mohaiemen / Bangladesh
Carlos Motta / Colombia, USA
Musquiqui Chihying 致穎 + Elom 20ce + Gregor Kasper / Taiwan, Togo, Germany
Tuan Andrew Nguyen / Vietnam
Posak Jodian / Taiwan
Mark Salvatus / The Philippines
Ousmane Sembène / Senegal
Stefanos Tsivopoulos / Greece
WANG Hong Kai + Lou MO 王虹凱+莫奴 / Taiwan, Canada
YAO Jui Chung + Hank CHENG 姚瑞中+鄭鴻展 / Taiwan
Opening Events
Honggah Museum（11F., No.166, Daye Road, Beitou Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan）
14:00-15:00 Artists Talk
16:00-17:00 Opening Reception
Solid Art （2F., No. 9, Aly. 79, Ligong St., Beitou Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan）
17:00-19:00 Opening Party
Organizers
Chew’s Culture Foundation Hong Gah Museum
Solid Art
Britto Arts Trust
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
Sponsors
National Culture & Arts Foundation
Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp.
Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture
Partenrs
Netherlands Office Taipei
RAVY 2023
Circle Art Gallery
Projector Sponsorship
Optoma Taiwan
Dates
Taipei | 2022.10.22-2023.01.15
Dhaka | 2023.02.04-2023.02.17
Curator Takamori Nobuo
Venues
Taipei | Hong-gah Museum, Solid Art
Dhaka | Britto Space
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