The Philippine Contemporary Art Network (PCAN) and the Taiwan Visual Art Archive (TVAA) proudly launch the publication, “Meridians of Region: Writing Art History and Curating Contemporary Culture in the Philippines and Taiwan.” Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan, “Meridians of Region” is a research and publication project that seeks to probe and develop cultural ties between the neighboring countries of the Philippines and Taiwan through art history and contemporary art.
Combining art history and curatorial practice to propose a model of a collaborative and inter-regional study of cultural processes, “Meridians of Region” takes its cue from acupuncture, identifying lively nodes to be stimulated and opened up to reveal meridians. Partly comparative in terms of case studies, but also moving beyond the binarism of Taiwan and the Philippines to anticipate other relations elsewhere; the publication seeks to play out methods and approaches in writing art history and curating contemporary culture by exploring the following links: the history and transformations underlying migrations of forms; the developments during the Pacific War and the Cold War; Philippine-Taiwan modernism; and the configurations of the Southeast Asian region in the present.
“Meridians of Region” contains research and writings from PCAN director Patrick Flores and TVAA founder Chiang Po-shin, as well as PCAN coordinator Renan Laru-an and TVAA members Cheng Wen-Hsien and Huang Wei-Fen, and Chen Yen-Ching of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Book design and layout by visual artist Mica Cabildo.
The electronic publication of “Meridians of Region: Writing Art History and Curating Contemporary Culture in the Philippines and Taiwan” is available for free online at the Vargas Museum website vargasmuseum.org/meridians-of-region/, the PCAN website https://pcan.org.ph/downloads/, and the TVAA website https://tvaa.tw/portfolio-item/地域性的子午線：菲律賓和臺灣的藝術史書寫和當/. Physical copies may be acquired upon request at the Vargas Museum, Roxas Ave., University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines 1101 or at the Taiwan Visual Art Archive, No. 14, Sanhe St., South Dist., Tainan City 702033, Taiwan (R.O.C.). For further inquiries, email vargasmuseum@up.edu.ph or tvaa.tainan@gmail.com.
