Taoyuan, 6 March 2021 - The upcoming exhibition of Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts (TMoFA) will be featuring the works of 17 finalists of the “Taoyuan International Art Award,” the very first international award from the city that eyes on promoting artistic creations from around the globe and to build up an exchange platform for the participating artists.

TMoFA is the foremost and the long-anticipated art institution of the growing city of Taoyuan. With the city being part of the 6 special municipalities in Taiwan, the importance of the award is undeniable, and it will only be the first step among the museum’s future programs to connect with the international art scene. The opening ceremony of the exhibit will take place on 13 March 2021 with the announcement of the grand prize winners. The “Taoyuan International Art Award” exhibition is scheduled to open to the public from 13 March to 18 April 2021, at Taoyuan Arts Center.

“Taoyuan International Art Award is in the foreground of the development of the Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, and even more so, that of the vision of Taoyuan city toward the international art scene. We look forward to building a new dynamic art hub to nurture contemporary art creations. At the same time, we also aim at providing artists with another professional exhibiting platform, in the hope of opening up the possibility for dialogues and cooperation through the holding of the award.” says the Director of Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, LIU Chun Lan.

The 1st international award from the city to promote the power of contemporary art creations
Taoyuan International Art Award, organised by TMoFA, is an award that aims at encouraging a diversified development of art practices and cultivating talents in contemporary art. With an expectation to strengthen international exchanges and to provide full freedom of expression, the award accepts application worldwide. The entry to the competition is not limited to material, category, or size as long as the submission would be a new work that has yet been exhibited nor recognized by other awards. As a result, the open call has successfully drawn the attention of more than 600 artists from 46 countries to submit their applications. The number of submissions received has set a new record for the award, and also, an important milestone for the vision of TMoFA and its subsidiary art centres to come.

The organizer will cover the finalists’ expenses for the basic exhibit build-up and transportation. Their selected entries will be exhibited in Taoyuan Arts Center for one month while going through an on-site review to decide one winner for the “Grand Prize,” three winners for the “Honorable Mentions” and one winner for the “Sojourn Award”. With the announcement of the winners on the opening day of the exhibition, the medallist is entitled to a prize of NTD$500,000. Honorable Mention artists will receive a prize of NTD$ 120,000 each, and Sojourn Award artist will receive a prize of NTD$ 150,000.

A creative dialogue: 17 artists to showcase together in Taoyuan and to reflect on the issues of our time
17 selected artists from across the continents will be showcased together. Their works come in different practices includes paintings, installations and new media artworks. They invite the audiences to re-discover and reflect on the various issues from cultural identity, community, history, global politics, the notion of time, and to re-experience how the artists express their thoughts and feelings through different materials and methods of creation.
The finalists of the Taoyuan International Art Award are: LEE Tek Khean(Malaysia), WANG Yi Wei (Taiwan), KOO Bon A (Korea), Ray KIANG (U.S.A), CHUANG Li Hao (Taiwan), Ana MENDES (Portugal), LIN Yan Xiang (Taiwan), CHANG Chih Chung (Taiwan), Lewis COLBURN (U.S.A), Takahiko SUZUKI (Japan), Liva DUDAREVA (Lativia), Sara WU (Taiwan), Maria VARELA (Greece), CHIANG Chun Yi (Taiwan), TING Chaong Wen (Taiwan), Mizanur Rahman CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh), CHIEN Yu Jen (Taiwan). Further details of the artists and their submitted works can be found in the Appendix.
The awarding ceremony will take place on 13 March 2021 following the opening of the exhibition. The event will be livestreaming at the Facebook and Youtube page of TMoFA at 14:30 (GMT+8). During the period of exhibition, the museums will also be launching a series of onsite events to invite the audience to have further engagement with the artists and artworks.
The Taoyuan International Art Award is organized biannually, and the upcoming open call is scheduled to be in June 2022.