The Monument - The Playground - The Island

Listening to the Overtones of Fissures：2023 Green Island Human Rights Art Festival

Under authoritarian rule, Taiwan’s remote Green Island became a place of exile for political dissidents. Shrouded in the shadow of White Terror, how did this island’s culture and stories unfold? And is authoritarianism unique to Taiwan—or does it take root elsewhere as well? Even in today’s democratized Taiwan, has the imbalance between the people and the state truly disappeared? Titled “Listening to the Overtones of Fissures”, this curation connects the legacy of White Terror, contemporary reflections, Green Island, and human rights. By using contemporary art to create distance from the past, the exhibition invites us to listen—to the echoes within the fissures, and the voices on the other side. In confronting a history that is complex and contested, we hope to offer audiences new ways to imagine, reflect, and draw closer.