Works on care, resistance and gender celebrated at 23rd Taishin Arts Award
The Taishin Arts Award, a benchmark of excellence in Taiwan’s contemporary art scene, has announced the winners of its 23rd edition. Celebrated for honouring outstanding artistry, humanistic values and the zeitgeist, this year’s winners were selected from 15 shortlisted projects and recognise works that draw from personal life histories to explore wider societal issues.
The three winning projects highlight themes of long-term care and illness, women’s experiences in patriarchal societies, and individual defiance against authoritarianism, media violence and existential struggle. All three employ various forms of media that blur the lines between reality and virtuality, prompting viewers to reflect deeply on contemporary life.
The final selection committee, chaired by US-based art critic Chien-Hui Kao, included theatre critic Hui-Ling (Katherine) Chou, art critic Yun-Ting Chang, Jen-Hao (Walter) Hsu, French choreographer Mathilde Monnier, Korean artist Chan-kyong Park, and Singaporean curator Fu Kuen Tang. After three days of discussion, the committee selected three winners, who collectively received NT$3.5 million in prize money.
The Grand Prize was awarded to Battle City: Finale by Li-Ren Chang, concluding a 14-year trilogy that examines personal and political resistance through animation, puppetry, model-making and narrative construction. In 2024, the complete trilogy was shown publicly for the first time at MoNTUE, alongside its production elements. The jury praised Chang’s use of fragile materials and a low-tech approach to reflect on artistic autonomy and social norms. Describing the trilogy as “a parodic examination of contemporary geopolitics”, the jury noted Chang’s use of battle as a metaphor to express resistance against global hegemonies and existential threats, commending his subversion of Hollywood-style heroism through a narrative centred on ordinary individuals. The jury also highlighted Chang’s integration of miniature model construction, puppetry and a gibberish language, framing the trilogy as a “site of memory” that bridges personal and collective histories.
The Visual Arts Award went to Xiang Ni for Everyone came to see you—Ni Xiang Solo Exhibition. Based on his personal experience with caring for the elderly and illness, the artist creates immersive large-scale installations from found and hoarded materials. His “hoarding aesthetics” reflect the disarray and emotional burden of caregiving in an ageing society. According to the jury, “Xiang Ni has developed a singular aesthetic of disorder,” using discarded objects to evoke memory, mortality and social disillusionment. The work’s use of black humour, combined with apparent chaos and whimsy, was noted for its poignant critique of institutional and personal powerlessness.
The Performing Arts Award was presented to Peng Hsu and the collective flowers bloom on the dead end for Great-Grand Rat-Po-Tai (So Old) Is Sleeping Next To A Landscape Painting, Diligently & Stingily Snoring——But There Is No Landscape Painting!. Performed in Hsu’s century-old ancestral home in Guoling, Zhongli, the piece uses magical realism and the murmured recitation style of “sui sui nian” (碎碎唸) to explore intergenerational female experiences. The jury described the work as a “fabular creation” that produces a “madcap process of both alienation and engagement,” blending queer romance, culinary-human-animal enactments, and a reimagining of intergenerational bonds within a historically patriarchal household.
Speaking after the deliberations, Chair Kao reflected on the challenge of selecting a Grand Prize winner among 15 exceptional projects. She praised the jury’s approach as one of “gentle persistence and rational listening,” calling the process a rewarding experience of shared learning. The shortlisted projects, she added, demonstrated “tremendous creative energy” through both the emotional depth and visual strength.
This year’s award ceremony was co-ordinated and directed by theatre artist Yang-Cheng Su of How to Eat Faust, with performers Hao-Lan Liang and Di-Yang Huang hosting. As part of the ceremony, they presented Where Does the Audience Go?, a month-long project that involved street interviews with over 80 members of the public. Their candid, humorous responses were woven into the programme, offering a snapshot of public perspectives on art and prompting laughter as well as reflection.
