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2025 Program Overview
Complemented by a series of talks by international curators and experts, cutting-edge installations, and guided tours, Taipei Dangdai is the must-attend arts event of the year, spotlighting the latest trends in contemporary art. In the Special Exhibition Co-hosted with Ministry of Culture, Taipei Dangdai co-hosts with the Ministry of Culture to present the work of three emerging and established Taiwanese artists who are experimenting with digital culture, artificial intelligence, and experiences of immersion. Also in this year, Taipei Dangdai co-hosts with Hong Foundation a special exhibition sector, Taipei Node, which will feature the work of an up-and-coming Taipei-based artist’s large-scale video installation, sponsored by Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs.
For the first time in 2025, the new Edge Artist Award will be awarded to an outstanding artist participating in the Edge sector, a special showcase for singular new bodies of work by emerging artists. An international jury consisting of leading curators and thinkers will meet at Taipei Dangdai to carefully view the work of all artists exhibiting in the Edge sector, and will award the winning artist at a ceremony on Friday 9 May 2025.
Taipei Dangdai’s Iconic Talks Program: Ideas Forum invites top curators and scholars to lecture on “The Braided Strands of Fate,” separated into three threads: the geographic, the spiritual, and the material. On Friday, curators of Asia’s leading biennials will share their research. On Saturday, hosted by the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Development Center and executed by Taipei Dangdai, the talk will invite international curators and Taiwanese representatives to focus on the global exchange of Indigenous cultures. And, on Sunday, experts will look at the intersection of art, craft, and design. This year’s guided tours emphasize a diversity of perspectives and cross-disciplinary knowledge, cooperating with partners from different fields. More details of the programs will be announced soon.
Pulling the Plug - Taiwanese Artists Exhibition Co-hosted with Ministry of Culture
Extending their collaboration for a second year, Taipei Dangdai and the Ministry of Culture co-host a special exhibition of work by Taiwanese artists. Titled “Pulling the Plug,” the exhibition includes three large-scale digital installations by artists working at the cutting edge of technology and contemporary culture. Shu Lea Cheang, the legendary new media artist based in Paris, presents a digital moving image installation featuring an ever-morphing self portrait challenging AI algorithm. Su Hui-Yu works with digital collective XTRUX, combining open-source AI tools with traditional film production in a sly reinterpretation of the military propaganda that sits within media culture. Finally, Zhang Xu Zhan, who comes from a family of traditional paper artisans, works in stop motion animation to tell a story of termites that shift their dietary habits to consume artificial cables after sudden ecological changes due to climate. Taken together, these three works give a sense of the shock and urgency with which technology appears in our culture today.
Zhang Xu-Zhan, “Termite feeding show”, 2024, 2 single channel, color, sound videos, 16:9 video -14’44, Round video-5’19”. Courtesy of the artist and Project Fulfill Art Space.
Su Hui-Yu, “The Space Warriors and the Digigrave”, 2023-2024, video installation, AI generated image, Short film. Image courtesy of the artist.
Shu Lea Cheang , “UTTERING”, 2023, 36min video loop, 4K. KI$$ KI$$, @Haus Der Kunst 2025. photo: Milena Wojhan
Taipei Node Special Exhibition
Still image of “How do you turn this on”. Image courtesy of the artist.
Taipei Node is a new annual special exhibition that celebrates a Taipei-based artist of global promise.
For the first edition this year, titled “Making of…Li Yi-Fan 李亦凡”, artist Li Yi-Fan will present a mini- retrospective presents three works that span themes from digital technology and online information to artificial intelligence. Li has been chosen to represent Taiwan at the 2026 Venice Biennale, making this exhibition a valuable sneak preview of that much-awaited pavilion. He was awarded the eighth Tung Chung Prize by the Hong Foundation in 2024, and is a resident of the prestigious Rijksakademie with the support of the Foundation. Taipei Node is co-hosted with the Hong Foundation and sponsored by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government.
2025 Guided Tours
Want to learn more about contemporary art? Want to collect the very first artwork in your collection? Sign up for the guided tours at Taipei Dangdai, and be a true “insider” of the fair.Pre-registration is required and space is limited.
*Please note all guided tours will be in Mandarin Chinese. Attendees need to present a valid ticket or invitation to access the fair.
2025 Ideas Forum: Braided Strands of Fate
In 2025, the Ideas Forum series of talks and panels alongside the art fair takes on the big question of how we connect across cultures and across polities in an era of polarization and suspicion.The term fate—yuan (緣)—is often understood in daily life as a bond of human affinity or serendipity, but it also underpins concepts such as geopolitical relations, emphasizing the pull between geography, culture, and domination.Titled “Braided Strands of Fate,” the Forum invites important curators and other art thinkers to share their practices and ideas of weaving together geographies, spiritualities, and materialities.
Titled “Braided Strands of Fate,” the Forum invites important curators and other art thinkers to share their practices and ideas of weaving together geographies, spiritualities, and materialities.
One panel will evaluate “The State of the Asian Biennial,” inviting the curators of recent and upcoming landmark exhibitions to publicize their research. On Saturday, researchers will present changing concepts of global indigenous culture. Two panels will look at the materiality of art’s circulation, one asking questions about digital art and its economies, the other proposing radical new modalities of the relationship between art, craft, and design as seen in the Fair’s new Embody sector.
9 MAY
1:30 PM-3:00PM
Ceremony: Edge Award for
Emerging Artists
Jurors:
Stefano Rabolli Pansera, Founding Director, Bangkok Kunsthalle and Khao Yai Art Forest
Lai Hsiang-Ling, Director, New Taipei City Art Museum
Lee Yulin, Director, Asia University Museum of Modern Art
Mark Rappolt, Editor-in-Chief, ArtReview and ArtReview Asia
X Zhu-Nowell, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Rockbund Art Museum
9 MAY
3:30PM-5:00PM
The State of the Asian Biennial
Speakers:
Hoor AL Qasimi, President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation
Philippe Pirotte, Curator and educator, art history professor at the Städelschule Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Vera Mey, Art historian and curator, Tutor (Reasearch) Royal College of Art / Curatorial Research Fellow of the Asia Triennial Manchester 2025
Sam Bardaouil, Curator of Taipei Biennial 2025/Director, Hamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of Contemporary Art
Honhjohn Lin, Curator and Writer/ Curator, 6th Asia Triennial Mancgester (ATM6)/Professor, Graduate School of Transdisciplinary Art, National Taipei University of the Arts
As crucial nodes within the global art system, biennials are increasingly contending with structural transformations and shifting institutional paradigms. This session convenes curators and institutional leaders from major Asian biennials scheduled between 2024 and 2026—including those in Gwangju, Aichi, Busan, Sharjah, and Taipei. Speakers will share their curatorial visions and reflect on how Asian perspectives can actively respond to current global dynamics, including cultural flows, political pressures, and evolving exhibition frameworks. A special segment will highlight the curatorial direction of the upcoming Taipei Biennial.
10 MAY
1:30PM-3:00PM
Global Indigeneity
Speaker:
X Zhu-Nowell, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Rockbund Art Museum
Abhijan X, Artist, Curator and co-founder of the Forest Curriculum
Etan Pavavalung, Artist
Cheang Shu Lea, Artist
Dondon Hounwn, Artist
In the context of contemporary art’s globalization, Indigenous peoples are no longer merely subjects of observation but active participants in the production of knowledge and culture. This session focuses on how Indigenous artists and curators use artistic practice to reconstruct cosmologies, challenge dominant epistemologies, and respond to their cultural realities. Through case studies from museum curation, forest-based knowledge networks, and community-driven cultural transmission, the conversation opens up a dialogical space across geographies and cognitive systems, showcasing the co-existence and interweaving of multiple worldviews.
10 MAY
3:30PM-5:00PM
Indigenous Art at the Global Biennials
Speakers:
Philip Tinari, Director, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art
Eva Lin, Independent curator, Curator of Jogja Biennale 2025
Indigenous art is rapidly becoming central to the curatorial agendas of international biennials—a rise that also signals a profound shift in exhibition ethics and knowledge systems. Compared to the global context, Taiwan began engaging with Indigenous art and cultural issues at an earlier stage, gradually building substantial curatorial experience.This panel highlights curatorial practices from Taiwan, the Middle East, and Europe, exploring how Indigenous art serves as a conduit for land, language, and environmental consciousness, while responding to colonial histories and the call for cultural decentralization. Speakers will share the challenges and breakthroughs they have encountered in the field and reflect on how Indigenous perspectives are reshaping exhibition vocabularies and asserting a vital role in global cultural discourse.
11 MAY
1:30PM-3:00PM
Digital Art and Its Markets
Speakers:
Shao-An Huang, Program Supervisor, Hong Foundation
Su Hui-Yu, Artist
Zhang Xu Zhan, Artist
Stefanie de Regel, Chief Development Officer, TAEX.
Shavonne Wong, Artist
As artistic production enters the realms of blockchain and algorithmic logic, the relationship between art and its market is being fundamentally rewritten. This session focuses on the strategies and practices of Taiwanese artists navigating a global technological environment. From animation and generative art to virtual models and moving images, artists will discuss how they maintain criticality, experimentation, and cultural responsiveness at the intersections of digital economies and platform governance. The panel offers a deep exploration of digital labor, value translation, and platform ethics in the age of computational culture.
11 MAY
3:30PM-5:00PM
Crafting Futures
Speakers:
Nicolas Trembley, Art critic, curator, and advisor, and Director of The Syz Collection for Contemporary Art
Yoko Choy, China Editor of Wallpaper* and Creative Consultant
Chen Tien-Li, Director, The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute
Craft is not merely a remnant of cultural heritage—it is a vital site of contemporary life, vernacular technique, and functional aesthetics. This panel invites curators and experts who have long engaged with folk craft, design, and material practices to revisit the role and positioning of local craft in contemporary society. The discussion will explore how craft is evolving in response to industrial transformation and material shifts, proposing new narrative frameworks and modes of production, and ultimately seeking to articulate a renewed definition and future direction for what contemporary craft can be.
Cultural Partners
Featuring commissioned and prize-winning works by young artists, these organizations support Taiwan’s vibrant art scene. This year’s cultural partners include CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture, King Car Cultural and Art Center and Hong Foundation.
CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture
CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture was found in 1996. The foundation aims to stimulate the art and cultural environment in Taiwan and elevate cultural literacy among the general public. In earlier years, the foundation focused on theater operations; in 2015, it underwent a transformation and initiated a three-pronged approach to support performing arts, promote visual arts, and foster arts and culture education.
Her Contemporary Perspectives
This booth, presented by the CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture, showcases selected works from CTBC’s collection. Through the perspectives of three female artists, it explores the interconnected dialogues of time, identity, and cultural transformation. Rebecca Baumann’s Automated Colour Field employs mechanical installations and dynamic colors to capture shifts in perception. Wu Yi-Han’s The Madonna and the Whoreexamines the pursuit of gender equality in modern society, reflecting on societal expectations of women’s roles. Hsiao Pei-Yi’s Treasure Ship II contemplates themes of disaster and transformation, exploring the duality of life and the possibilities for humanity to find a way forward. Together, these three works offer a cultural perspective on contemporary society through the lens of women.
King Car Cultural and Art Center
Established in 2008 by the King Car Cultural & Educational Foundation, the King Car Cultural & Art Center is dedicated to supporting emerging artists and fostering wider engagement with contemporary art in Taiwan. With two spaces in Taipei—Nanjing and Chengde—KCCA focuses on early-career artists working across painting, installation, video, and sculpture, highlighting the diverse ways contemporary art engages in dialogue with the environment. Beyond exhibitions, the Center organizes talks, art writing workshops, and artist residencies, cultivating dialogue and exchange in Taiwan’s evolving contemporary art scene.
Do You Feel Any Heat?
This work utilizes 3D scanning technology to convert physical materials such as crystals and minerals into digital files composed of mesh and texture, integrating them into sculptural creations. It explores the digital translation of material energy, examining whether substances believed to possess invisible energies—within cultural and religious contexts—can be re-perceived and regenerated through technological means via their digital “surfaces” and “forms.”
Hong Foundation
This year, Hong Foundation co-hosts a special mini-retrospective of emerging artist Li Yi-Fan, titled “Making of…Li Yi-Fan”, sponsored by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government.
Featuring three works that trace a journey from digital technology and internet culture to the age of AI, Li Yi-Fan transforms cold, technological media into emotionally charged visual landscapes through his distinct narrative approach. His work reminds us that technology is not just a tool; it is a vessel for both human imagination and longing.
Wang Pan-Youn: Art in Harmony
Co-curated by Lao Xie Zhen, Tina Keng Gallery, and Azure Rain Atelier
Wang Pan-Youn: Art in Harmony is a collaborative curatorial effort between Lao Xie Zhen, Tina Keng Gallery, and Azure Rain Atelier, highlighting a shared focus on contemporary culture and everyday aesthetics. The project not only revisits the artist’s creative journey, but restores the viewer’s connection to the contemporary meaning and intrinsic value of the classic.
“In a world that moves ever faster, the gentle force born of time, inner being, and life’s minute details becomes all the more vital — a force we find mirrored in Wang Pan-Youn’s work,” Lao Xie Zhen states.
Harmony and Stillness Through the Eyes of Wang Pan-Youn
Wang Pan-Youn is a leading figure in modern Taiwanese painting, with a body of work that spans nearly a century. Known for his bold style and chiseled brushwork, his paintings are often perceived as steeped in solitude and poignancy. Yet beneath this intense surface lies a steady, quiet vitality — a confrontation with the self, a reflection on history, and an interrogation of the world.
From his early and mid-career explorations of migration and negative space to his later seminal works such as A Thousand Mounds of Snow (1990) and The Red Sun (2001), Wang’s paintings transcend mere landscape. They become spiritual terrains — silent and profound — where art and life intersect in equilibrium.
Xie is a Profound Cultural Resonance
For Lao Xie Zhen, xie is not just part of its brand name; it is a spiritual symbol that spans across eras and disciplines. This specially curated project adopts Wang Pan-Youn’s creative vocabulary to engage in a dialogue with the brand’s philosophy: finding balance in seemingly opposing elements, building resonance from contradictions, and uncovering depth in stillness.
Just as Wang Pan-Youn’s work juxtaposes sunlight and dark earth, solitude and grandeur, Lao Xie Zhen conveys the delicate infusion of time and craftsmanship in every spoonful of chicken essence and soup. This is not just an art exhibition; it is a reframing of the finer aspects of life.