last week i went to the taipei fine arts museum. one of the shows was devoted to taiwanese avant garde art in the sixties. this was very interesting because at the time taiwan was hardly a free society. there were heated discussions on modern art and if it was good or even art. some paintings were confiscated at this time for being "too political" and were not returned to the artists until 1980. i don't know in what way these paintings were political, as they certainly don't appear that way now. unless it had something to do with the titles of the work.

also on display was a retrospective of the visual 10 photography group. a group of photographers that documented different aspects of taiwanese society. some of this work was really interesting, just to look back at that time or at the design and fashion style throughout the years.

there was another photography show on as well. but there were no pamphlets about it and the tfam website doesn't have any information on it, so i'm not sure who it was. but it was very interesting, as the photographs had been altered digitally. sometimes just slightly, other times greatly. one photograph featured manhole covers, which made me think of jean's post about manhole covers.