Taiwanese American Arts Council

in collaboration with El Taller Latino Americano

presents

URBAN TRIBES
2019-2022

The phenomenon of migrants forming an international cross-cultural "urban tribe" is one of the urgent topics in the 21st century. Analyzed historically in the context of the planet and symbiosis, this involves the survival of human beings and maintenance of balance among various living things. The discourse thus moves to valuing human nature, preservation of multiple cultures, the environment, and the new multi-faceted unity. Potential political, economic, and cultural crises can only be averted by an emphasis on the diversity of life that promotes interactive relationships.

Curatorial team:

Chief Curator: Luchia Meihua Lee, Executive Director, TAAC

Co-curators: Jennifer Pliego, Director of Special Programs and Head of the House of Art, El Taller Latino Americano, NYC

Sarah Walko, Curator, Director of Education & Community Engagement, Visual Art Center of New Jersey

150-page color catalogue with essays by Luchia Meihua Lee, Dr. Alessandra Wang, Dr. Peychwen Lin, Jennifer Pliego, Alexandra Chang, Sarah Walko, John Ensor Parker

2019  Urban Caravan Participating artists:

Miya Ando, Steven Balogh , Yutien Chang (張郁田), Ching Yao Chen (陳擎耀), Cheng, Jen Pei (程仁珮),  Andrea Coronil, Felipe Galindo , Chemin Hsiao (蕭喆旻),  Mingjer Kuo (郭明哲), Pey-Chwen Lin (林珮淳), Lo, Yi-Chun (羅懿君), Lulu Meng (孟祥璐),  Kelly Tsai & Ryan Hartley Smith，Yu-chuan Tseng (曾鈺娟), Pei Shih Tu (杜佩詩)

150-page color catalogue with essays by Luchia Meihua Lee, Dr. Alessandra Wang, Dr. Peychwen Lin, Jennifer Pliego, Alexandra Chang, Sarah Walko, John Ensor Parker

Urban Tribes II – Urban Reverence (Virtual Gallery series one)

The current pandemic throws everything into turmoil, making us more widely connected by cyberlink, and more in tune with nature and inner mindset. This exhibit focuses on the diversity of life that promotes interactive relationships in communities.  A self-sufficient group in any ethnicity may develop its own cultural identity, diverging significantly from its original character. Yet the members of urban tribes never completely take on the living style of the larger population in which they reside, and it is the differences that are most interesting. Here, we use a fresh perspective to view isolated pockets of disjointedness, and then interpret them in a larger context. We are all in a one-universe tribe.

Urban Tribes, of which this is the second part, examines how “tribe” and “community” have changed to apply to wider groups, defined by race, ethnicity, language, culture, art, economic dynamics, or even digital commonality. The resulting groupings form one of the urgent topics of the 21st century, which in many countries portend crises in political, economic, cultural, and environmental issues. Artists working in various media and representing various ethnic and cultural backgrounds conceptually address what it means to be part of these Urban Tribes. Here, the interconnection between mind, body, nature, culture, language, and how working with this concept of the urban tribe will pull a viewer through a symbolic journey.

Curatorial team：

Chief Curator: Luchia Meihua Lee, Executive Director, TAAC

Co-curators: Jennifer Pliego, Director of Special Programs and Head of the House of Art, El Taller Latino

Americano, NYC. Sarah Walko, Curator, Director of Education & Community Engagement, Visual Art Center of New Jersey

For more information about the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s programs visit:

http://www.taac-us.org

This program is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with, the City Council. Additional funding comes from the Jacob and Ruth Epstein Foundation and individual donations. 

We Thank You!