Advised by Ministry of Culture, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) is proud to present the international academic symposium, “Refractions of the Avant-Garde: The Development of Modernist Painting in East and Southeast Asia.” Held on 27 and 28 March at the NTMoFA Auditorium, this two-day forum convenes ten esteemed scholars from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and the United States to examine the multifaceted evolution of Avant-Garde art in East and Southeast Asia as it radiated from Europe and America during the early 20th century.
Chen Kwang-yi, Director of NTMoFA, noted that the symposium’s theme, "Refractions of the Avant-Garde," captures a pivotal historical shift. As the waves of Avant-gardism and Modernism reached East and Southeast Asia in the early 20th century, they underwent a profound transformation through artists’ self-interpretation and localization. By integrating Southeast Asian art histories as a comparative framework, we can broaden our methodological horizons and deepen the multifaceted narratives of Taiwanese art history.
The symposium features two distinguished keynote speakers: Masahiro Ushiroshoji (Director of Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art and Professor Emeritus at Kyushu University) discusses the development of Avant-Garde style and modernist trends in Asia; Chen Kwang-yi (Director of NTMoFA) provides a macro-perspective on European Modernism and its specific developmental trajectory during the cold war.
The forum is organized around five major topics: “East Asian Localization and Distant Land Experiences of Surrealism,” “The Driving Force of Modernism — Cross-Media and Cross-Cultural,” “Understanding and Practicing Modern Art Theory and Knowledge Systems,” “Beyond ‘-Isms’—Reconsidering the Position of the Artist” and “Responses to and Interactions with Prewar Taiwanese Artistic Currents.”
On the first day of the forum, Scholars Chinghsin Wu and Junghee Moon trace the postwar experiences of Japanese and Korean artists abroad, exploring the unique emergence of Surrealism in East Asia; Roger Nelson and Simon Soon focus on the transmedia and transcultural nature of Southeast Asian art, situating the region within the global Avant-Garde network. Motoyuki Kure and Chia-chiu Tsai re-examine the translation of Avant-Garde theories in East Asian art history.
On the second day of the forum, Teo Hui Min and Yuki Hatori will further analyze how artists in Singapore and Indonesia transformed Western vocabularies to redefine artistic identity, while Han-ni Chiu and Jessica Tsaiji Lyu-Hada highlight the profound influence of Japanese artists on Taiwan’s literary and artistic circles during the late colonial period.
Situated at the heart of the Pacific island chain, Taiwan has long served as a crossroads for Western, Eastern, and Southeast Asian exchanges. By hosting this symposium, NTMoFA seeks to provide a collaborative space for international scholarship to intersect, offering new insights into how various artistic movements shaped the modernist landscapes of the region. For more information, please visit the event page on National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Official Website.
Refractions of the Avant-Garde: The Development of Modernist Painting in East and Southeast Asia
Time: 27-28 March, 2026
Venue: Auditorium of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Symposium Contacts: Yi-Hsuan Kuo +886 4 23723552 ext353
Media Contact: May Yan +886 4 23723552