THE 2021 TAIWAN EMERGING ART AWARDS｜Taichung City Seaport Art Center

Over the past two decades, Taiwan Emerging Art Awards have continued to encourage and support artists who engage in unique, progressive, and innovative artistic creation. This year, something has changed our life. As inhabitants of this planet, we can’t escape from the spread of pandemics and passively stay home where we are restricted in what we can do. People are protecting each other through quarantine. This year, instead of being influenced by the pandemic, Taiwan Emerging Art Awards has received 323 pieces of art, reaching an historic high point. Particularly, in recent years, due to the lifting of restrictions on age and medium, the organization has received works from artists of different generations, displaying their unique and diverse works. In this way the objective of the Taiwan Emerging Art Awards is met: to encourage artists to demonstrate new styles of Taiwan art with their original spirit.

Taking an overview of the 45 selected pieces of art, we see artists neglect the restrictions on media and concepts of performance which are set by contemporary art, to express their ideas through interdisciplinary performance and convey the element of diversity in contemporary art via personal styles. In addition to presenting two-dimensional or three-dimensional artworks, artists also employ reusable found materials along with audio and image to create a sensory experience, leading viewers to experience a new way of looking at the works. Instead of portraying emotions in art, this year most of the artworks on display focus on the ways of performance and the discussion of materials. Some works also involve creators' national identity, explorations in literature and history, the definition of home, and so on. Some express concern for social phenomena, environmental protection, and even include exploring the unknown universe. These works convey diverse messages which artists intend to tell their viewers and which are also the artists' reflections on life and environment. All of these issues discussed in the works are closely related to viewers. While the pandemic rages, “One island, one life.” The artists do their best to convey the messages in their works with keen observation and inform us and allow us to be actively aware of the changes in the environment. In addition to broadening viewers’ aesthetic experience, they also expect viewers will have flexible thinking and perspectives to face their daily life while viewing the artworks of this year.

Every summer, Taiwan Emerging Art Awards attract artists from everywhere in Taiwan and is also one of the most anticipated art exhibitions for creators and art lovers. The selected works of this year are particularly enthralling. We expect creators in Taiwan can find their positioning in their time and remain rich in perception and creativity to create more astonishing artworks in their way and continue to write a new page in the art history of Taiwan.