Yesterday was the start of summer vacation for schools here in Taiwan. Linda, a high school English teacher who attends the Monday night Bible study, invited our family to visit Taipei National University of the Arts with her. One of her students from previous years attends that college and we have done several different outings with her. We met Linda and her college-age daughter, Newton, at the MRT station and rode for about 45 minutes to the Guandu stop where we hopped a bus to the college. We met up with Weishang there at the campus. Weishang seemed very much in her element. She, like many other students there, doesn't go home for summer vacation and I can understand why. The campus was set on a mountain very much removed from the buzzing Taipei metropolis. It was a very peaceful and beautiful atmosphere entirely devoted to art. Weishang showed us around the art exhibit building. I was surprised to find out that the exhibits were not done by students but by professionals. These were very abstract, some even involving interaction. One was a powerpoint presentation of words and phrases about God put to an acapella solo singing track. The artist left papers for people to fill out about how they felt after sitting through the exhibit. One exhibit was a tv set placed on the floor, plastic stools in front of it and fake flower plants around it (a very typical scene in Taiwan homes). Weishang told us that the artist was portraying Taiwan life and values and how it is all very temporary and fake. Another exhibit was plastic bag art. The artist shaped bags into numerous pictures of Mary and baby Jesus. I wish we had been allowed to take pictures as I am sure it is all quite difficult to imagine. The exhibits were creative, strange, and fascinating.
After the exhibit hall we ate lunch at a cafe on the campus. It was good to visit with Weishang. She brought along a cute little sock puppet she had designed in one of her classes. Kirstie and Katelin were both intrigued by it.
Yesterday was the start of summer vacation for schools here in Taiwan. Linda, a high school English teacher who attends the Monday night Bible study, invited our family to visit Taipei National University of the Arts with her. One of her students from previous years attends that college and we have done several different outings with her. We met Linda and her college-age daughter, Newton, at the MRT station and rode for about 45 minutes to the Guandu stop where we hopped a bus to the college. We met up with Weishang there at the campus. Weishang seemed very much in her element. She, like many other students there, doesn't go home for summer vacation and I can understand why. The campus was set on a mountain very much removed from the buzzing Taipei metropolis. It was a very peaceful and beautiful atmosphere entirely devoted to art. Weishang showed us around the art exhibit building. I was surprised to find out that the exhibits were not done by students but by professionals. These were very abstract, some even involving interaction. One was a powerpoint presentation of words and phrases about God put to an acapella solo singing track. The artist left papers for people to fill out about how they felt after sitting through the exhibit. One exhibit was a tv set placed on the floor, plastic stools in front of it and fake flower plants around it (a very typical scene in Taiwan homes). Weishang told us that the artist was portraying Taiwan life and values and how it is all very temporary and fake. Another exhibit was plastic bag art. The artist shaped bags into numerous pictures of Mary and baby Jesus. I wish we had been allowed to take pictures as I am sure it is all quite difficult to imagine. The exhibits were creative, strange, and fascinating.
1 comment:
That university sounds very relaxing...I would go just for the scenery.
And the sock puppet is aDORable!
I'm so happy to have your blog in my life, Cherry.
~Nette
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