CfP: Contemporary Taiwanese Art Across Borders: Immersive Memory, Identity, and Artistic Agency

In recent years, contemporary Taiwanese art has emerged as a vital platform for exploring complex narratives of identity, memory, and geopolitical tension, often transcending both physical and conceptual boundaries. The expansion of Taiwanese art beyond its borders is not merely a matter of geographic movement; rather, it is a transformative process that engages with the global art scene while simultaneously challenging local histories, traditions, and identities.

This topical section for the International Journal of Taiwan Studies (https://brill.com/view/journals/ijts/ijts-overview.xml), guest edited by Professor Chia-Ling Yang (University of Edinburgh), aims to examine the multifaceted ways in which Taiwanese artists create works that resonate both locally and globally, offering critical insights into transnational dialogues within contemporary art practices.

Entitled Contemporary Taiwanese Art Across Borders: Immersive Memory, Identity, and Artistic Agency, this topical section investigates how memory and history shape contemporary Taiwanese art, with particular attention to how immersive artistic practices reshape collective and personal identities across borders. By showcasing the richness of Taiwanese contemporary art, we hope to highlight its engagement with cross-media and transnational dialogues. From the tensions of divided political spaces to the reimagining of gender, physicality, and technology, this topical section will explore how Taiwanese artists respond to and reinterpret the world around them.

We invite papers to address topics which will shed light on the interplay between memory and history in contemporary Taiwanese art and examine how artistic practices transform everyday experiences and historical moments. By examining contemporary Taiwanese art across various media, we aim to illuminate how artists create spaces where memory is not only preserved but actively reimagined—offering new agency and creative possibilities in a rapidly evolving world. Ultimately, we hope this topical section will highlight the dynamic dialogues between local and global cultures, providing fresh perspectives on how contemporary Taiwanese art serves as a powerful vehicle for transnational storytelling.

Proposed Timeline:

• 30 June 2025 – Submission of abstracts (up to 300 words) to Professor Chia-Ling Yang (c.yang[at]ed.ac.uk). Please also include your short biography (up to 100 words) with your name, position, institution, and contact details.
• 31 July 2025 – Notification of decisions by the guest editor
• 31 October 2025 – Submission of full papers to IJTS (for accepted abstracts). The IJTS Editorial Office will then conduct double blind peer reviews for all submissions. 

More information at Call for Abstracts – Contemporary Taiwanese Art Across Borders: Immersive Memory, Identity, and Artistic Agency – European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS).