Articles

In one of her last major interviews, Carolee Schneemann spoke with White Fungus editor Ron Hanson, reflecting on her life—from childhood drawings and adolescent adventures in Mexico to New York's downtown avant-garde, her unusual relationship with Joseph Cornell, her complicated friendship with Stan Brakhage, and the belated recognition she received in the final years of her life.

Lin Chi-Wei is a key member of the pioneering generation of Taiwanese noise/sound artists that emerged in the 1990s. Lin has made landmark contributions as a writer, performer, artist, and member of Z.S.L.O (Zero Sound Liberation Organization). In Lin’s Tape Work, the artist sits in the center of the audience and unfurls a tape of ribbon or paper upon which characters are hand-printed or embroidered. Passed hand to hand through the crowd, each audience member/participant vocalizes the succession of phonetic symbols. The result is the creation of a multi-headed human tape machine. In the Taiwanese-language version of the work, Lin reactivates the “killing tone” or (Rù tone 入聲) from the medieval Chinese seven-tone system.

Noise music in Taiwan emerged in the 1990s, a tumultuous period of social upheaval following the lifting of 38 years of martial law. In the frenzied atmosphere of street clashes and political demonstrations, artists explored previously taboo subjects and experimented with radical forms. It was in this context that Taiwan's noise movement was born. Jeph Lo witnessed the evolution and reflects on that messy but protean time. His article is accompanied by photographs of political demonstrations of the period by Leon Tsai and Tsai Ming-Te.

White Fungus has released its 18th print issue. The new edition features an 80-page interview with Eileen Myles, a deep dive into Hilma af Klint and the occult roots of modern art, and a photo essay by Yao Jui-Chung on animatronic displays of hell from temples in Taiwan and Singapore, accompanied by a text on the Chinese conception of hell.

Henri Cartier-Bresson famously photographed the final days of the Chinese Civil War. Remarkably, an exhibition of these historic images was slated for both Taipei and Beijing—two capitals with diametrically opposed views of that history. The Beijing showing was cancelled due to COVID-19, but the exhibition opened at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in late 2020. David Frazier examines its reception in Taiwan, considers how it might have been received in Beijing, and explores the thorny historical and political context.

Kurt Gottschalk speaks to Charmaine Lee about her ever-expanding musical practice.