Abandoned buildings documented at 'City Spirit'

2014-09-11

A photographic exhibition underway at Taipei Fine Arts Museum through Sept. 21 is spotlighting uninhabited buildings left behind by political and social changes.

Comprising 35 pictures taken by Taichung City native Liu Yun-yi since 2010, “City Spirit” reflects the photographer’s quest for an arena where memories can be recalled and history relived.

“I have always been interested in how changes in space affect people,” Liu said. “For me, deserted architecture is a vehicle that reflects changes in our inner world.”

According to Liu, the exhibition establishes a dialogue among abandoned space, history and cities.

“This idea germinated while commuting between West and East Germany by train as a foreign student eight years ago,” she said. “The views from the train window changed dramatically the closer I got to East Germany and left a strong visual impact upon me.”

Istanbul, the former capital of Turkey, is another city to experience changing political influences, Liu said. “One sees ruins of empire coexisting strangely with the modern life in the affluent regions, making the leading city a conflicting, sophisticated and vibrant metropolis.”

Taiwan’s history also left the country with buildings of diversified cultural heritage, she said.

“The Baroque mansions along the old streets in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District represent a meeting of Chinese and Japanese culture. And in outlying Kinmen County, there are many abandoned mansions built by entrepreneurs who made their fortunes in Southeast Asia.”

Liu said she hopes her exhibition will instill new meaning into vanishing space in the city and transform its value, reconnecting people to the special history behind these buildings.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=221380&CtNode=413)