2020 ART TAIPEI draws to a close in gratitude
The 27th Taipei International Art Exhibition, 2020 ART TAIPEI, has come to a grand close on October 26. This year’s resounding success was due to the efforts and self-discipline demonstrated by the people and the government of the Republic of China. The outstanding performance posted by the exhibitors is the foundation of the macro-environment, which was infused with the efforts from Taiwan Art Gallery Association and ART TAIPEI. Just as the Premier of the Executive Yuan, Su Tseng-chang, stated at the opening ceremony, “Taiwan is a blessed land”, thus it was also a joy to share Taiwan’s blessings with all the exhibitors, artists, collectors, and supporters of ART TAIPEI, and it is also 2020 ART TAIPEI’s crowning achievement.
This year the fair has attracted 70,000 visitors in total during five days and the total sales amount broke 1 billion NTD. MIT-Taiwan Young Artists Connection with the World and Emerging Indigenous Artist Special Recommendation Exhibition supported by the Ministry of Culture reached almost 4 million NTD sale amount while Senior Indigenous Artist Special Exhibition broke into 5 million NTD. Jam Wu’s artworks exhibited by LIANG GALLERY and Senior Indigenous Artist Special Exhibition were all sold out. The sale amount scoring more than 10 million NTD included these galleries: ADMIRA Gallery, Insian Gallery, EVER HARVEST ART GALLERY, LIANG GALLERY, CHINI GALLERY, Loftyart Gallery, Rich Art, Fun Year Ting Ting Art Gallery, Hann Art Agency. The overseas exhibitors participated in the first time such as MAI 36 GALERIE, MEDEL GALLERY SHU, AsiaHues, L Gallery, Space1326, and ArtConvex as well as the domestic galleries for the first time participation including YI YUN ART and EACH MODERN have harvested radiant results.
Since 2016, ART TAIPEI has scheduled the last day of the event as art education day, where students from all around Taiwan are invited to attend the annual art fest. Art education day has four sub-programs: the remote student and art student participation program; the guide and talent seed and cultivation program; the course linkup program; and the DIY press conference. The guide and talent seed and cultivation program is a collaboration with the National Taiwan Normal University’s College of Art, training professional education students and those with an art-related background as exhibition guides, so that teachers and students at the fair would be able to reap more from their attendance. Over the years, the program has trained 65 such guides. On the morning of the 26th, the DIY press conference was able to invite Dr. Jiang Xue-ying who led the students to appreciate ART TAIPEI’s four special exhibitions: the MIT - Young Artists’ Connection with the World special exhibition; emerging Indigenous Artist Special Recommendation Exhibition; Senior Indigenous Artist Special Exhibition; and Foreign Country My Homeland--Special Exhibition by Post War Taiwan Alumni Artists from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. This year’s art education day was attended by 18 schools with 1061 visitors. In the four years since 2016, 3534 students have visited ART TAIPEI through this initiative.
At the DIY press conference on art education day, the chairperson of TAGA, Chung Ching-hsin, said in her dedication that the number of attendees for art education day has been growing year by year, and it was clear that the Ministry of Education is working hard to promote aesthetics education in elementary and middle schools, and she hopes that ART TAIPEI can make artistic connection with the students, so that art can take root from an early age. Li Yu-juan, Deputy Director of Teacher Training and Art Education Division at the Ministry of Education, stated that it is possible to see a lot of professional artwork at ART TAIPEI, and being physically present at the fair, one is able to cultivate one’s sense of aesthetics. The guides also took visitors through the MIT - Young Artists’ Connection with the World which is the Ministry of Culture collaboration, and she hoped everyone would have a more profound art experience by coming to the event in person.
Among those present at the DIY press conference were the Cultural affairs officer at the American Institute in Taiwan Luke Martin, Secretary general of Chunghua Children’s Aid International Ni Yun-zhong, member of the Legislative Yuan, Huang Kuo-shu, and Taipei City counselor Hsu Shu-hua, who were all able to get in on the fun with the young students present, generating laughs throughout the event.
An interlude in the last morning of the exhibition was a visit by the observation delegation from the Legislative Yuan, with the convening member Wu Szu-yao, members of the Legislative Yuan Kao Hung-an, Chang Liao Wan-chien, Edward Lam, and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Kevin Peng among others in attendance. The group spent some time listening to a presentation to understand the ART TAIPEI’s operation strategy in recent years, which allowed them to under the benefits and drawbacks the galleries and the art industry face in the time of pandemic, and they also carried out initial exchange and discussion on issues related to the industry and legislations. During the guided tour of the exhibition, Ms. Wu saw the work “Compound eye” by Hu Wei-yi, and took up the microphone to share her feelings and thoughts on that work with the public, which demonstrate her care and passion for art on a day-to-day basis. After the tour, Ms. Wu also purchased three pieces of artwork to express her support and enthusiasm for the arts.
2020 ART TAIPEI has drawn to a close amidst all the applauses, and Taiwan Art Gallery Association and the ART TAIPEI organizing committee would like to thank everyone for their support and attendance. But this year’s exhibition is not yet over – ART TAIPEI is still ongoing on the ARTSY website, and will be open until November 4, 23:59. To maintain everyone’s passion for ART TAIPEI, we have also set up a V ART TAIPEI webpage, and we hope that everyone will log on to keep enjoying the exhibition!
ARTSY：https://www.artsy.net/art-taipei-2020
V ART TAIPEI：https://varttaipei.azurewebsites.net/
