Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

King Hu was selected by International Film Guide in the UK as one of the top five international directors, and he was revered as a master of Chinese cinema. Also a pioneer of costume action films, Hu often based these films on historical legends and incorporated Asian aesthetics and modern artistic expression. In the 1950’s and 60’s, he developed a film genre described as having “culture within martial arts, and swordsman with Zen spirits.” The influence of his unique aestheticism is profound and extensive, and is an exceptional example for later researches and references. If King Hu were still alive, this year would mark his 80th birthday, and many film communities around the world are launching his retrospectives and also academic seminars. In addition to King Hu’s undeniable motion picture accomplishments, he was also dedicated in the fields of animation, comics, and even living aesthetics. There are many never-before-seen King Hu creative works collected by the Chinese Taipei Film Archive, with many notes and manuscripts, and for people interested in studying or understanding King Hu’s art, this collection is important historical document and cultural heritage that one should not miss. With this resource, Chinese Taipei Film Archive and Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei have come together for this exhibition, and have come up with creative ways to exhibit Hu’s manuscripts of films, calligraphies, animations, and comics. Furthermore, six artists, Tim Yip, Hwarng Wern Ying, Meiching Huang, Leo Chanjen Chen, Tony Chunhui Wu, and Yi Li Yeh, have been invited to apply different media and artistic approaches to create artworks that connect with specific works by Hu, and some have based their works by extracting distinguished elements from Hu’s films, such as the inn, bamboo forest, and misty clouds. There are also works inspired by the male literati and swordswomen, battles of kung-fu and wit, and sequences with Zen spirits from Hu’s films, done with perspectives of the new generation. These artworks are created from diverse points of view with different approaches. However, they are all created to pay homage to King Hu. Additionally, interviews have been conducted by the Chinese Taipei Film Archive with renowned figures in cinema, such as Ang Lee, Hark Tsui, Feng Hsu, Tong Wang and Edmond Wong. The French director Hubert Niogret made a 48-minute documentary, King Hu (2011), is also presented. Exceptional discussions and points of views shared by these important cineastes along with rare footage and excerpts from Hu’s films have been brought together to offer to the public a comprehensive view of King Hu’s cinematic achievements, which are with profound traditional Asian aesthetics and yet, at the same time, with contemporary innovative spirits.