The laureates of the 17th Taishin Arts Award have been announced, with winners in three categories splitting a prize pot totalling TWD3.5m (€985,000). Laureates were selected from 15 finalists, with the prizes awarded in a ceremony at Taishin Tower in Taipei on 25 May.
Shu-Yi Chou won the Performing Arts Award (TWD1m) for his work Break & Break! Dance Video Exhibition. Drawn together from three years of travel and research, the video exhibition explored “physical dialogues with the land of Taiwan”. In particular, the jury praised how Chou’s work was relevant “to the global experience of urbanisation”.
Meanwhile another dance project took home the Annual Grand Prize: LUNA by Bulareyaung Dance and Cultural Foundation. The foundation, who won the Taishin Performing Arts Award in 2018, collectedTWD1.5m. “In an era of accelerating change and information explosion, this piece expresses inner calmness and assurance embodied in impactful physical movements,” commented the jury. “Bulareyaung is grounded in the perspective of human existence and enriches the culture of Taiwan.”
Finally, the Visual Arts Award went to Hui-Yu Su for The Glamorous Boys of Tang. Su collected theTWD1m prize for a four-channel video installation inspired by the 1985 of the same name. Remarked the jury: “The artwork responds to a sense of urgency about the liberation of human desire, body, and gender in Taiwan, while presenting a transcendent artistic vision.”
For 2019 the jury included four representatives from Taiwan: Yi-Wei Geng, Tai-Song Chen, Shan-Lu Yu and Song-Yong Sing. The three international members of the jury were Joseph Mitchell (artistic director, OzAsia Festival), Reuben Keehan (curator of contemporary Asian art, Queensland Art Gallery) and Anna Cy Chan (dean, School of Dance at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts).
The ceremony itself was organised by Ming-Chen Lee, hosted by magician Sean Chou and actor Meng-Xuan Song, while music came from the The Muddy Basin Ramblers.
