Artist Huang Bo-yuan wins Taipei Art Awards for project about monuments — Taipei Times

In Taipei, Taiwan, artist Huang Bo-yuan received the top Taipei Art Awards prize for the project “In Search of a Nose Under Fronta na maso,” dedicated to how monuments from the authoritarian era acquire new meanings after being dismantled or relocated. As Taipei Times reports, the 26-year-old artist was selected from among 276 entries. He will receive NT$550,000, which amounts to about US$16,767.

Monuments after dismantling

Huang Bo-yuan created the two works presented in the competition project during art residencies in Lithuania, which began in 2023, and in the Czech Republic last year. His research continues his previous work with Chiang Kai-shek statues in Taiwan, for which the artist used 3D printing and digital technologies.

One work compares the Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park in Taoyuan, where relocated Chiang Kai-shek statues are installed, with Grūtas Park near Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. Grūtas Park displays Soviet-era monuments removed from public spaces. According to the artist, both places have become tourist locations, changing the perception of objects that once embodied political power.

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Prague monument and digital memory

Another part of the project is devoted to the demolished Stalin monument in Prague. Its Czech nickname, fronta na maso, means “queue for meat”: the monument was called this because its figures resembled people standing in a line. Huang Bo-yuan explores how memories of the structure are preserved in jokes, oral stories, and urban legends online, making it possible to discuss historical trauma through humor.

The works use generative artificial intelligence, video, and 3D printing. Using these technologies, the project explores how digital tools can fill gaps in historical memory. The works of ten Taipei Art Awards finalists are on display at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum until February 14, 2027.