Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

The arrival of the era of globalization, plus the rapid flow of information and the moving closer together and merging of countries and regions, has extended age-old human exchange and communication methods, continually giving civilization an injection of new vitality. Contemporary design in Taiwan is a new field formed by the convergence of three forces--a dialogue between ancient and modern, an encounter between East and West and global creative industry competition. The distinctive features of fashion design as an important cultural and creative industry is that it can accept different aesthetic beliefs, tastes, values, cultural propositions and market appeals and can also achieve an excellent merger of extremely antagonistic elements, features that in Taiwan, a place with a pronounced post-modern cultural character, are very obvious and on-going. The Taiwan fashion industry’s release and display events of the spring-summer/autumn-winter seasons annually are like successive moving feasts that always satisfy. However, in a global fashion industry in which top brands compete fiercely, how can Taiwan’s fashion design let itself be noticed and find success? This is a question that not only individual designers must ponder on, all members of the design community in Taiwan should also pool their wisdom and look for a way forward. The aim of this exhibition is to, based on the special geographical space that is “Taiwan” and the idea of flowing time implied by “current wave”, to display and explore diverse “contemporary/current” design thinking and the interpretation of fashion of individual designers.In terms of planning, on the one hand, the exhibition exhibits the special dialogue between individual thinking of designers and the existing exhibition space at MOCA Taipei, on the other, uses this to describe the various faces and overall power of the current creative “dynasty” in Taiwan. Taiwan’s “current” fashion designers who have invited to take part in this exhibition present their latest design series or new experimental works custom-made for this exhibition, the list of designers including some with a distinctive style such as Isabelle Wen, Kang Yen-Ling, Khieng Puong, Huang Shu-Chi, Fu Zi-Jing and Jasper Huang; two Taiwanese designers who have won awards in international design competitions in recent years are also taking part, Chen Shao-Yan, Liao Ying-Yi and Sun Yu-Hong; in addition, new-generation Taiwanese designers who won awards in Taiwan’s “Super Designer” competition, such as Hsu Yu-Ju, Fan Yu-Ting, Ribbon Hsieh, Dorren Zhang, Lee Chia-Chuan, Chiu Shao-Huai, Yang Tzu-Hsing, Wang Bi-Mei, Huang Chun-Chieh and John Cheng will also exhibit their work. For the planning of this exhibition, on the one hand the intent is to form a dialogue between the designers’ fashion shows with the space at MOCA Taipei. On the other hand, the objective is to also turn the 201 gallery into an arena of group exhibition and competition. With visual artist Hsu Wei-Hui’s suspended installation comprised of ready-made garments and also the flowing visual installation connecting the entire space, it is anticipated that, as the audiences enter into this vibrant fashion theater, they will be able to open up their senses in different ways and fully experience a great contemporary Taiwanese fashion feast of the 21st century.