From National Art to Critical Globalism

Abstract

The biennial form was adopted and adapted by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in order to reform its official art exhibition and in response to the rise of multiculturalism and postmodernism in Taiwan's post-martial law era. This article, through a close analysis of the curatorial strategies of the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale from 1995 to 2011, reformulates our understanding of the biennial not merely as an exhibition format showcasing works of art but as a more flexible mechanism that signifies global postmodernism as both a continuation of and a break from the project of modernism that had been previously carried out by museums. The trajectory of the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale has shifted from that of an exhibition motivated by a marginalized country's longing for national representation in a global art fair to one that critiques the logic of cultural, political and economic hegemony that dominates the biennale and causes Taiwan's own marginality.