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| Where's Wally?! |
It was not a shock to stand before a fake of Johanne Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring", because when we paid to enter Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, we were plainly informed by word and text that all of Vermeer's works were digital reproductions: this obviously didn't deter the hordes of art lovers who had flocked to see all his paintings in a reproduced form on the last day of the exhibition.
How appropriate it seemed: in a country spawned by Big Brother across the Taiwan Strait, that Mandarin of knock-offs, fakes and copies, we were viewing the ultimate in high end art as legitimate fakes. The laser reproductions were exquisite and barely able to be identified as non-genuine: a certain patina, a crease of light revealing a flat surface unsullied by paint globs and brush marks or a rogue colour shade here and there were all that set these apart from the real things. The gift shop copies at the end really showed how fine a copy the exhibition works were!
It was cheap as chips to get in and was a cultural marvel to behold. Despite the nature of the works, the place was packed, and every manner of kitsch accompaniment had been found to adorn the main works. There were bandannas to be worn and jackets to drape and people could pose themselves in frames and whole rooms set up to replicate the settings of some of the famous works. Miffy was dressed as the girl with the pearl earring and there were even Lego versions of the painting. In fact, just about everything that could be flogged was being flogged; rampant consumerism at its very best (worst?) !
When we decided to stroll through the grounds of the Hall to take in the ambiance of the Koi Pond, we were startled to see that an army of older citizens had descended upon the grounds since we'd been inside. They were dressed in some type of uniform(s), and were listening to the constant, droning tones of speakers on loud-hailers. They seemed to be assembling at various points, so it was even more pronounced an intrusion than usual when we decided to make our way across the park. As you can see from the photos, we really stood out ! (Red shirted "Where's Wally" Cassy!)
On the way out the side entrance we stumbled across an older couple getting their wedding shots taken against the backdrop of the Hall Park's outer fence. The photographer was encouraging them to do a "can-can" style pose and I managed to capture the moment with the perspective of a street sausage vendor in the foreground...only in Taiwan!
We lunched at a tiny cafe between the Hall and the museum of Natural History that we'd discovered a while ago. This time we both got slightly more substantial meals and they were of similar high quality to that we'd previously experienced. The "Gaspard et Lisa" glasses and crockery were a cute accent on the repast and we had a pleasant direct train ride home later in the afternoon.
We streamed some episodes of recent telemovies "Jack Irish" over the weekend and we really enjoyed them. This involved some sleight of hand and a bit of trickery involving iPads, hiding of ISPs with a VPN then streaming through ABC's iView.....acronym overload!
Photos of said adventures as well as a shot of the tongue lashing temple round the corner in limbo as it quietly prepares for this year's big festival. Cassy is reading Jo Nesbo's third, The Redbreast while I'm still diggin' Charlie!
