Elsewhere, Quirky wrote:
This seems worth talking about. What public art do you like? What sucks? As a whole, is art in Taiwan’s public spaces getting better or worse?
Has anyone seen the “Swimmers” anywhere?
They are swimming figures etched on glass. I helped a friend with that project (a French artist based in NY) but have never seen it. Wondering what people think.
There’s a tall red spire at the intersection of Hsin Hai and Hsin Hseng that I gather is outdoor art. It can best be described as like the handle of your toilet brush painted red and 60 feet tall. Near the top it has some small windmill things.
Still, one or two of the outdoor pieces in the park next to Taipei Fine Arts Museum are interesting.
The only piece I saw last year was in a park near the Taipei airport (not CKS, the other one). It was a big, ugly, three-pronged concrete monstrosity. Whoever designed it should be deported to the mainland.
I have no idea if things have been improving. I sure hope so, though.
I like the big horsie on Civil Boulevard and (I think) Fushing, or close to it. I also some of the aborigine-inspired sculpture in the park near the National Palace Museum.
I love that horse!
I also love the fact that graffiti seems to be getting more popular. I always feel that any society without graffiti is a society in need of therapy.
If we can include parks as public art, I recommend checking out the Lotus Gardens just west of the National Palace Museum (I would guess it’s about 200 or 300 meters before you get to the museum). It’s a wonderful place and very well laid out. The only drawback is a very angular phoenix sculpture that, in my mind, doesn’t fit the place.