Nineteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Unlike Western societies, where animism often falls outside the scope of modernity, Taiwan and other non-Western cultures maintain animism as an integral part of daily life. For artists from Taiwan and the broader Asian region, this distinction serves as a unique narrative tool to explore historical documentation and political realities. Many curatorial statements in art exhibitions aim to express this distinctive contextual significance. The concept of iconoclasm has its roots in early Western and Christian art history, with a journey that extends to the Eastern regions and continues into the contemporary era. Throughout this journey, numerous variants emerged, shaped by diverse circumstances. The concept is not only epitomized as damaging sacral images and adopting an offensive manner towards art devoted to beliefs but has also extended into the political realm. In this study, the use of iconoclasm has dual dimensions: firstly, to feature Taiwan’s contemporary art that appropriates religious images, and secondly, to explore the dialectics with the ‘modernity’ defined in the West. The latter implies ambivalence within the Taiwanese art scene as it asserts its self-defined modernity. However, this distinctiveness deemed to profile Taiwan’s or Asia’s subjectivity is confronted with legitimacy competitions between democratic mechanisms and divine powers. This study examines recent art exhibitions in Taiwan that incorporated or simulated religious rituals and artworks that parodied authoritarian political figures, exploring the paradox of multi-edged iconoclasm in contemporary art.