展覽史資料庫

For this edition, the “composite installation” style was no longer included in its selection requirements. The museum had instead drew up a list of their own candidates and voted on participants, stipulating that works be “no less than size 100 (162 x 130 cm),” with “8 – 10 works as standard.” In other words, only the principle of large and more is maintained, while innovation in content and its aesthetic is no longer a requirement.

During the preparatory period between 1971 to 1973, there were successive diplomatic setbacks undermining Taiwan’s international status as representative of “China.” The Chinese catalogue was reduced in content compared to previous years, and local modern painters traveled overseas for their own careers, with elected representatives declining invitations to participate because they were abroad or had other exhibition commitments, with four younger painters participating in the exhibition.

This would also be the last time Taiwan participated in the Bienal. After many years of operation, the opportunity to intervene in the jury process would arrive. The committee would invite Lin Ko-kung, Director of the Fine Arts Department at Political Warfare Cadres Academy to serve as juror. However, NMH would only attend to large and more exhibited works, unable to provide further discourse on abstract styles that were no longer mainstream. The exhibition introduction was comparable to previous years, occupied with the contrast between East and West, abstract Chinese conceptions of nature and the universe, while in the arts stronghold of Bienal de São Paulo, abstract painters could no longer connect with contemporary art trends, and even with a compatriot tasked as juror, it was inadequate in obtaining awards.