Taiwan’s Rainbow Village artworks lost amid renovation
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A work of art by Taiwanese contemporary artist Yung-Shi Pai left behind in a rural hillside is one step closer to returning to his home after a three-month renovation.
On October 21st, Pai took pictures of the Rainbow Village Art Centre in Chiayi City, west of Taipei, on the evening that he was to begin the work. He then sent over a dozen emails, asking his family if they wanted to come visit him in Taiwan. He was planning on leaving the work in the centre for his family, and they might be able to come visit for a few minutes.
“But I thought I should let my family know this morning, so that they won’t be upset if I leave it to go see them,” Pai told the Taiwanese newspaper the Chosun Ilbo.
Pai has become quite the recluse over the past three months. He sent out a series of messages to news outlets on his cellphone, telling them that work was in progress. When he finally did have time to move the sculpture, he sent it over to his family.
He wanted to let them know in advance that he was leaving it because they would be upset, so that they would have time to see it.
The artist’s wife, Yung-Hao Pai, was initially surprised to see her husband’s prized work in the middle of the village. “When I went to take pictures, it was just the outline of the Rainbow Village on a little hill, and they told me that it was his work,” she told the Chosun Ilbo. “He asked me if I wanted to see it. I said yes, because I had wanted to see it for a long time. I never expected that he would take it so far from home.”
A number of people expressed their love and appreciation for the artwork, and it was even named among the top 100 pieces of art in the world by the Japanese newspaper Nikkei. But some villagers were more troubled by the disappearance of their art.
“I think he did it because it