2025 Taoyuan International Art Award

12 Finalists announced
By A&M

Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Kasamaponn Saengsuratham, Krongpong Langkhapin, Arjin Thongyuukong, ‘Red Eagle Sangmorakot: No More Hero In His Story’. Image courtesy of the artist and Taoyuan International Art Award.

The 12 finalists for the 2025 Taoyuan International Art Award are announced today. Organised by Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, the award is in its third edition. The selection has been made from 1,161 submissions, and finalists will meet with an international jury panel. From there, one Grand Prize winner, three Honorable Mention winners and one Sojourn Award recipient will be selected and announced in March 2025. Thereafter, a group exhibition featuring the works of all finalists will be held at Taoyuan Arts Center, Taiwan from 26 March to 18 May next year.

Southeast Asian artists among the 12 finalists are Tek Khean Lee (Malaysia), as well as the group Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Kasamaponn Saengsuratham, Krongpong Langkhapin, Arjin Thongyuukong (Thailand). For the other 10 finalists, from Asia, there are Yu Ting Tsai (Taiwan); Yan Xiang Lin, Cheng Hsiang Wang (Taiwan); “Working Hard” Wen Ying She, Po-Yu Kuo (Taiwan); Nut Brother (China); Aisuke Kondo (Japan); Goh Uozumi (Japan); “couch” Hiroki Miyazaki, Reiko Asao (Japan). From farther afield, there are Kevin Corcoran, Jorge Bachmann (US); Erdem Tasdelen (Canada); Robbe Maes, Reynout Dekimpe (Belgium).

Tek Khean Lee, 'Gai Gaau'. Image courtesy of the artist and Taoyuan International Art Award.

Malaysian artist Tek Khean Lee has created a fictitious religion called ‘Gai Gaau’, the name of the work, through the fabrication of antique paintings, artifacts and documentaries, to point out the absurdity of contemporary life situations. In ‘Red Eagle Sangmorakot: No More Hero In His Story’, Thai artists Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Kasamaponn Saengsuratham, Krongpong Langkhapin, and Arjin Thongyuukong do a deep dive into the visual representation of Muay Thai, and explore their national history during the Cold War era.

“Working Hard” Wen Ying She, Po-Yu Kuo, ‘Sleep in Fish (Ikan Kapan Bobok)’. Image courtesy of the artist and Taoyuan International Art Award.

From Taiwan, ‘See you next time’ by Yu Ting Tsai is a video installation in three parts, narrating the geographies from Taipei Island, Thailand and the Golden Triangle to see the contemporary environments from the artist’s perspective. Working on places as well, ​​Yan Xiang Lin and Cheng Hsiang Wang chart the changing landscapes of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis development and its impact on local scenery. And “Working Hard” Wen Ying She and Po-Yu Kuo will create an installation with marine debris and worn-out furniture to encourage reflection on migrant worker cultures. 

“couch” Hiroki Miyazaki, Reiko Asao, ‘A fable of a fable <Wildcat>’. Image courtesy of the artist and Taoyuan International Art Award.

There are three Japanese artists whose works will be presented in the exhibition planned for next year. ‘Yellow Peel’ by Aisuke Kondo is the artist’s rumination on life in Germany, and more broadly on Asian discrimination in Europe from the past to the present day. Goh Uozumi creates an online voting system with ‘Social Choice and its Enemies - ver.2’. And Hiroki Miyazaki and Reiko Asao propose a large-scale installation that is based on fables about wildcats, with integration of a survey on wildcats in Taiwan, whose results will be made available at the end of this year.

This year's international jury includes: Chih Min Chang, Acting Director of TMoFA, Abby Chen, Head of Contemporary Art Department at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; Reuben Keehan, Curator, Contemporary Asian Art at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art; Sunjung Kim, Artistic Director of Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea; Po-Wei Wang, Artistic Director of Digital Art Foundation, Taiwan; and Pei-Yi Lu, Associate Professor at National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan.

This article is presented in partnership with Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts (TMoFA).  

For more information, visit tmofa-tiaa.com. 

Read more in our ‘Beyond Southeast Asia’ series here.