The three winners of the 20th Taishin Arts Award are revealed in a cheerful and festive ceremony that was tinged with anxiety until the winners were announced. Taishin Holdings founder and Award Chairman Thomas WU made an introductory statement. Pointing out that the 30th anniversary of the Taishin Bank coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Taishin Arts Award, he stated that “the Taishin Arts Award supports Taiwanese artists with substantial prize money, assisting artists to shine on the stage, while guiding the direction of the Taiwanese arts and cultural scene.” He specifically thanked LIN Mun-Lee, a representative on the board of the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture. When revealing the Grand Prize winner, LIN also expressed rather touchingly that “throughout the past twenty years, whether the situation was favorable or not, Chairman WU has steadfastly and determinedly supported art so that the Taishin Arts Award can still exist today and continue marching into the future.”
Amy CHENG is the chairperson of the seven-juror final selection committee for this round, which also includes two members of the nominating committee and four outside jurors. The laureates of the Visual Arts Award, the Performing Arts Award, each with a prize of 1 million NTD, and the Grand Price, with a prize of 1.5 million NTD, are eventually declared after a marathon of intense discussion that lasted two days.
The Grand Prize: Mr. Wing Theatre Company / A Journey towards Sentiment (kanshooryokoo)─My Endless Melancholy Becomes Siberia Comprised of Oblivion After You Left for the Southern Villages.
The Visual Arts Award: Yi Fan Li / howdoyouturnthison─2021 Asian Art Biennial.
The Performing Arts Award: Body Phase Studio & Mr. Wing Theatre Company / Prince Hamlet.
Coincidentally, the two award-winning performing arts works were both staged at Guling Street Avant-garde Theatre, which was only re-opened last year after three years of renovation. The first-time laureate, Mr. Wing Theatre Company, brings home the Grand Prize and the Performing Arts Award respectively with an independent production and a co-production with Body Phase Studio. Indeed, this achievement has an epoch-making significance to the Taishin Arts Award and Taiwanese experimental theater.
Visit the website of the 20th Taishin Arts Award.