We Need You For Another 15 Years!
Since its establishment in 2010, TheCube Project Space has been committed to the cutting-edge development of art and culture. Having its ups and downs, TheCube has accumulated oceans of content, ideas, and practices in independent curatorial projects, avant-garde experimental exhibitions by local communities, and international connections and exchanges. Now, TheCube is celebrating its 15th anniversary. This crowdfunding campaign is intended not only to raise funds for TheCube’s operation, but also to explore and define the potential orientation of an “independent space” and its unique role and significance in contemporary culture. We expect to open up a greater space of thinking and imagination with your support.
This is A Crowdfunding Campaign And An Invitation to A Series of Artistic Actions:
- We specifically invite artist Lai Chih-Sheng to create the exhibition titled Clearing, whereby we can explore the concept of “space.” Hosted by TheCube, this exhibition will open at 3 p.m. on 15 June 2024 and feature a live performance by Filipino sound art pioneer Tengal.
- We are also pleased to announce that the 2nd Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival will take place for two weekends in a row on 23 November (one day) and 30 November-1 December 2024 (two days).
- We cordially invite you to fathom and feel with your senses and redefine the meaning of an “independent space” with us.
THECUBE PROJECT SPACE: A One-Of-A-Kind Experimental Platform And A Bottom-Up Base For International Linkage
- Located in an old building down a little alley of the Gongguan Night Market
- Surrounded by Taipei’s cultural blocks — living spaces around NTU and NTNU as well as Wenzhou Street, Roosevelt Road, and Tingzhou Road
- A contemporary art platform for transdisciplinary experiments that blends together curatorial practice, exhibition, research, and cultural exchange
- Focusing on long-term research-based art exhibitions on contemporary sound culture, techno-culture history, etc.
- A venue that encourages innovation and supports artists and curators in bold experiments
- A gateway that channels local and international arts
Our Achievements And Influences
- In an independent curatorial spirit, we’ve collaborated with more than 200 artists from home and abroad and organized more than 70 contemporary exhibitions and performances.
- We’ve organized more than 100 transdisciplinary thematic seminars, workshops, and podcasts like Praxis School, Sound and Times, and Talking Drums Radio.
- Our large-scale long-term project titled Altering Nativism – Sound Cultures in Post-War Taiwan was the Grand Prize Winner of the Taishin Arts Award in 2015. The eponymous reader won the Golden Tripod Awards in 2016, and it has been on sale for 10 years, making it a must-read for researchers in the field of Taiwan’s acoustic and musical culture.
- In 2019, we organized the CIT19 International Conference and Workshops which gathered 30 leading curators from home and abroad as lecturers. It was the first large-scale international curatorial forum and grand international exchange event in Taiwan over the past two decades.
- Over the past 15 years since its establishment, TheCube has been recognized by the international art community and has become a prime destination for curators from major international art institutions when they visit Taipei.
Why Is An Independent Space Crucial?
- TheCube is so agile as a guerrilla unit capable of grasping contemporary art trends promptly and putting them into practice immediately.
- We insist on “piecemeal engineering” for each program and subject, so that we tend to spend years developing experimental projects in long-term collaboration with artists and researchers.
- TheCube’s sui generis position enables itself to facilitate effective coordination among artists, researchers, art museums, galleries, and educational institutes insofar as to foster transdisciplinary collaboration.
It is such a special role that turns TheCube into a bridge for the international community to delve into Taiwan’s vibrant art ecosystem from multiple perspectives and hence a better understanding of Taiwanese contemporary art.
They Support TheCube
“From Sonic Shaman Music Festival, Chen Zhengdao’s Tree Tree Treee Project, to Yeh Hsing-Jou’s Foolish Man Removes the Mountain, TheCube Project Space showcases a broad artistic vision and inclusive perspective.”
— HUANG Ming-Chuan (Independent Film Producer, 2022 National Culture and Arts Award Winner)
“TheCube is important experimental art space for art community in Taipei and in Taiwan in general. Not only they present exhibition with strong innovative curatorial concepts and art making practice, but also continuously build the discourse to connect the practices with wider social political contexts and movements. The theme, the approaches and visions of the organization are always relevant with global and local dynamics.”
—Alia Swastika (Director of the Jogja Biennale Foundation, Yogyakarta)
“TheCube has created a unique and vibrant cultural landscape for the art scene in Taipei.”
—Lim Giong (Musician, 2017 National Culture and Arts Award Winner)
“TheCube has consistently expanded the boundaries of contemporary independent art spaces. It refuses to remain in a fixed mindset, operating flexibly and organically over the years, transcending the limitations of physical space. While focusing on local cultural production, it also pursues the frontiers and future of art. Cube is a contemporary art base that encourages experimentation and creativity, characterized by high dynamism. It serves as a public platform for interdisciplinary thinking and practice exchange, as well as for cross-regional knowledge production and creative experimentation.“
—LAI Hsiang-Ling (Consultant of New Taipei City Art Museum)
“TheCube Project Space, a catalyst for Taipei’s cultural prosperity, is now an integral part of the vibrant intellectual and cultural scene in Gongguan. It is hard to imagine this landscape without it.“
—YAO Lee-Chun (Director of Guling Street Avant-garde Theatre)
“For over a decade TheCube has been a vital space for critical artistic practice both locally in Taipei and resonating internationally. Through their rigorous programs and defiance of traditional and static models of exhibiting art, I’ve been introduced to countless artists and thinkers who have significantly shaped the way I think about art history, sound, music, and the political context of Taiwan and greater Southeast Asia. Their work is essential and I can’t imagine Taipei without them!“
—Alaina Claire Feldman (Former Director of Exhibitions at the Independent Curators International)
“Over the past 10 years TheCube Project Space and Casino Luxembourg have collaborated on multiple exhibitions and projects. Each one has been an extraordinary experience of shared engagement for art and cultural exchange.“
—Kevin Muhlam (Artistic Director of Casino Luxembourg)
Challenges Facing TheCube…
- TheCube is funded by grants from the public sector and by financial donations from private foundations, corporations, and individuals.
- In recent years, we’ve been under financial pressure due to price hikes, increasing exhibition and operation costs, and the global phenomenon of tight budgets for arts and culture.
- We’ve been on the brink of funds shortage in our endeavor for arts and culture to take root, project implementation, and day-to-day administration.
Your Support Will Enable TheCube:
- To hold an international leading curator forum again in autumn 2024 and the thematic lecture series of Praxis School in 2025 that are expected to infuse new energy and inspiration into Taiwan’s curatorial thinking, artistic practice, and cultural production.
- To keep observing the latest art trends and acting as a platform for next-generation curators and artists to showcase their talents without misgivings.
- To make the bold transdisciplinary experiment Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival more brilliant and exciting!
- To improve the quality of its physical space, so as to offer the visitors a better viewing environment and serve as an excellent base for peers and allies to brainstorm and promote creativity!
We Gratefully Acknowledge Your Generous Support!
To express our sincere gratitude, we’ll send you the following thoughtful thank-you gifts from October 2024 onwards.
A. TheCube 15th anniversary tote bag
Donation: NT$1,600 （US$ 50）
The tote bag is designed by artist Lin Guan-Ming and available in three different colors. The occasion of TheCube’s 15th anniversary greatly enhances its sentimental value.
B. First-day Ticket for the 2024 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival
NT$2,000 (US$ 65)
The 2024 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival is a mesmerizing fusion of independent bands, experimental sound, electronic music, and Live Art. Its first-day performance is scheduled to be staged on 23 November 2024 (Saturday) at AUSPIC PAPER in Xindian District, New Taipei City. The festival will be imbued with corybantic energy thanks to the heterogeneous venue which is starkly industrial in style.
C. Three-day Pass for the 2024 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival
NT$6,000 (US$ 190)
In addition to the first-weekend event at AUSPIC PAPER, the second-weekend event of the 2024 Sonic Shaman will take place on 31 November and 1 December 2024 in a building that can accommodate 1,000 people yet it has never hosted a public performance before. This event is designed with theatricality and curatorial narratives, which is an unprecedented experience design at a music festival in Taiwan.
D. Vinyl Record of Lim Giong: 2022 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival, collector’s edition
NT$8,000 (US$ 250) (Limited edition of 200)
Lim Giong, a winner of the National Award for Arts and once a famous singer, is known for his film scores. In recent years, Lim has immersed himself in creative endeavors and seldom performs in public. Only a few people know that he is also a pioneer of experimental electronic music in Taiwan. Brimming with tension and variation, his 50-minute performance at the 2022 Sonic Shaman was one of the few experimental sound performances he’s delivered in recent years. This vinyl is Lim’s first live album, available in a limited edition of 200 copies with Lim’s autograph.
Plastic/ EVA, PVC, PE, 45x35x3cm, edition 30
E. Lai Chih-Sheng’s work Seascape
NT$60,000 (US$ 1,900) (Limited edition of 30)
Artist Lai Chi-Shing is adept at interventional practices and dialogues with spaces. Collaborating with TheCube for its 15th anniversary, Lai specifically created the new work Clearing to probe into the social role and status of an independent space. The eponymous exhibition will take place from 15 June to 21 July 2024 at TheCube. The eligible sponsors will receive a copy of Lai’s autographed conceptual artwork Seascape, available in a limited edition of 30 copies. Seizing this opportunity, you may collect TheCube’s consistent spirit and the artist’s elaborate creation.
2007, PRINT Photogravure. Framed. Each edition is 8 sets (64 letters) with different background colors; red, pink, yellow, turquoise, brown, grey and violet.
F. SUPERFLEX’s work FREE BEER
€ 20,000 (NT$710,000) shipping not included
Free Beer plays on a well-known quote by the free software activist Richard Stallman: “Free as in ‘free speech’ not as in ‘free beer.'” Free Beer aims to create a counter-system to copyright, which is a regulative system of law and metaphorical rights.
Originally named Vores Øl (Our Beer), the beer was conceived in 2004 by SUPERFLEX and students from the Copenhagen IT University. The project applies modern free and open-source methods to a traditional real-world product. The recipe and branding elements of Free Beer are published under a Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5) license, granting anyone the right to use the recipe and logo, or to create a derivative of the recipe and name. The initial version of Free Beer is based on classic ale brewing traditions, but with added guaraná for a natural energy boost.
Free Beer has been brewed in breweries, workshops and kitchens worldwide, with and without SUPERFLEX’s participation, including in Taipei, Sao Paolo, Los Angeles, Munich, Knoxville, Lausanne, Cornwall, Bolzano and Auckland.
http://freebeer.org/blog/
2009, video, 12mins, 5 + 1 AP (last edition)
G. SUPERFLEX’s work The Financial Crisis (Session I-IV)
€ 60,000 (NT$ 2,130,000) shipping not included
The Financial Crisis (Session I-IV) is a 12-minute filmwork in which SUPERFLEX addresses the financial crisis from a therapeutic perspective. A hypnotist guides us through our worst economic nightmares. During four sessions, the audience is invited to speculate on the hypnotic forces of global capitalism, as well as experience the fear, anxiety and frustration of losing control, economic loss and personal financial disaster.
In “Session 1: The Invisible Hand,” we are introduced to the backbone of capitalism, the idea of the “invisible hand” as the benign force of self-regulation that prevents markets and people from spinning out of economic control. We are asked to interrogate our faith in this force, and to imagine a world no longer governed by this invisible hand. In the following sessions we are guided deeper and deeper into the subconscious of the financial crisis with “Session 2: George Soros,” “Session 3: You,” and “Session 4: Old Friends.”
The Financial Crisis (Session I-IV) was commissioned and created for Frieze Film 2009, and screened on Channel 4’s “3 Minute Wonder” slot in October 2009.
(viewing online)
* This work was presented in TheCube’s first exhibition Traversing the Fantasy in 2010.
How to Make Donation
- Please fill the form https://forms.gle/McomNbyLV1kvaHGG9
- Choose your donation amount and reward item and leave your contact information.
- We will contact you for further details.
- Rewards are scheduled to be shipped after November 2024.
- Any question please mail us : jeph@thecube.tw
Donation Reward
Shipping fee not included
US$ 50（NT$1,600）: TheCube 15th anniversary tote bag
US$ 65 (NT$2,000): First-day Ticket for the 2024 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival
US$ 190 (NT$6,000): Three-day Pass for the 2024 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival
US$ 250 (NT$8,000): Autographed vinyl of Lim Giong: 2022 Sonic Shaman – TheCube Forum Music Festival, collector’s edition + mp3 (Limited edition of 200)
US$ 1,900 (NT$60,000): Lai Chih-Sheng’s work Clearing (Limited edition of 30)
€ 20,000 (NT$710,000): SUPERFLEX’s work FREE BEER (Limited edition of 8)
€ 60,000 (NT$ 2,130,000 ): SUPERFLEX’s work The Financial Crisis (last edition)
- Please fill the form https://forms.gle/McomNbyLV1kvaHGG9
- Choose your donation amount and reward item and leave your contact information.
- We will contact you for further details.
- Rewards are scheduled to be shipped after November 2024.
- Any question please mail us : jeph@thecube.tw
Date:
2024 年 5 月 30 日
