Exhibitions
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The Artist Archive of Taichung City Gomach’s Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association – An Art Group of the Region
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2015-12-12 ~ 2016-04-17
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TimeClosed on Mondays
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PlaceTaichung City Artist Archives
Introduction:
About the Exhibition Gomach’s of Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association – An Art Group of the Region
In the 1970s, Chingshui became the art hub of the coastal region when a group of teachers at Chingshui Elementary School started to organize a series of concerts and art exhibitions, enriching the cultural scene in the coastal area. In 1978, with their passion for artmaking, more than ten teachers gathered here and founded the Chingshui-based art group Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association of Taichung County (abbreviated as Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association) as a communicational platform to share their artistic practice and exploration as well as to encourage art activities in the region. The founding members elected Tsao Wei Chu, the then President of Chingshui Middle School, as the first Director, and they reached an agreement that their group exhibition should be held annually. However, when it was first founded, Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association did not finish the registration process because of the regulations at that time. They tried to register again in 1998 but it had passed the deadline for various reasons and became invalid. In 2000, at the third attempt, Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association finally registered as an art group.
In the initial stage, Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association’s exhibitions mainly took places in the nearby towns of the coastal region, such as the then Chingshui Town Hall, Tachia Farmer’s Association, Jhihsin Hall at Shalu Elementary School, Shalu Public Service Station, etc. One thing about Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association was its free membership dues when it was still not an officially registered group, while all the exhibition and management expenses were covered by the sales of members’ works. For all members, the first piece to be sold in an exhibition organized by the association should be donated to the association as well. According to the documents from the associations’ account book, the income of the first touring exhibition was more than $60,000 TWD.
It has been 37 years since the founding of Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association in Gomach –the name of the region in native aboriginal language –, and the members still devote their effort with horse-like energy and ox-like persistence as its name “Niou-Ma-Tou” suggests (which means the heads of horse and ox in Mandarin) to spreading the seeds of art and culture from the coastal region in Central Taiwan to the whole island.
In the 1970s, Chingshui became the art hub of the coastal region when a group of teachers at Chingshui Elementary School started to organize a series of concerts and art exhibitions, enriching the cultural scene in the coastal area. In 1978, with their passion for artmaking, more than ten teachers gathered here and founded the Chingshui-based art group Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association of Taichung County (abbreviated as Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association) as a communicational platform to share their artistic practice and exploration as well as to encourage art activities in the region. The founding members elected Tsao Wei Chu, the then President of Chingshui Middle School, as the first Director, and they reached an agreement that their group exhibition should be held annually. However, when it was first founded, Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association did not finish the registration process because of the regulations at that time. They tried to register again in 1998 but it had passed the deadline for various reasons and became invalid. In 2000, at the third attempt, Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association finally registered as an art group.
In the initial stage, Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association’s exhibitions mainly took places in the nearby towns of the coastal region, such as the then Chingshui Town Hall, Tachia Farmer’s Association, Jhihsin Hall at Shalu Elementary School, Shalu Public Service Station, etc. One thing about Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association was its free membership dues when it was still not an officially registered group, while all the exhibition and management expenses were covered by the sales of members’ works. For all members, the first piece to be sold in an exhibition organized by the association should be donated to the association as well. According to the documents from the associations’ account book, the income of the first touring exhibition was more than $60,000 TWD.
It has been 37 years since the founding of Niou-Ma-Tou Art Association in Gomach –the name of the region in native aboriginal language –, and the members still devote their effort with horse-like energy and ox-like persistence as its name “Niou-Ma-Tou” suggests (which means the heads of horse and ox in Mandarin) to spreading the seeds of art and culture from the coastal region in Central Taiwan to the whole island.
