AHT 330T Crossroads: Arts and Cultural Heritage of Taiwan
This course looks at the art historical and cultural heritage of Taiwan, exploring the island’s complex identity shaped by both oriental and western territorial expansions. The civilization waves which contributed to the formation of Taiwanese’s culture include the European Dutch and Spanish settlements of the early seventeenth centuries, long standing Chinese migrations, rebel Chinese and then imperial seals in the late Seventeenth century, as well as Japanese governance in the first part of the Twentieth century. Besides those external forces, Formosa was and has remained the habitat of ancient populations predating and indeed surviving the various colonization processes which have occurred from the seventeenth century onwards. The course places particular emphasis on artistic production in Taiwan as an agent of cultural identity formation, investigating in particular pictorial, sculptural, architectural and photographic traditions. Furthermore, following the migration of the Republic of China (ROC) to the island in 1949, Taiwan became the repository of a unique collection of Chinese ancient and buoyant art historical production. The cultural heritage of Taiwan will be approached through both is roots in traditional arts and civilizations, and contemporary practices, reflecting on the islands’ privileged position at the heart of a hybrid, vibrant identity.