TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — These haunting images of gliding ghouls spooked Taiwanese netizens on Sunday (June 12).
The photos were posted that evening by the Tainan Art Museum to promote the upcoming exhibition titled "Ghosts and Hells: The Underworld in Asian Art," which will be featured at the museum from June 25 to Oct. 16. The exhibition is being presented by the Musee du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac and will be located in the Tainan Art Museum's Building 2 in Galleries E-H.
The organizers of the exhibit seek to provide a glimpse into the "fears and imaginations of the unknown world in Asia over the centuries" through works by contemporary Taiwanese artists and film posters of local ghosts and monsters. For the Taiwan show, influences on the depiction of ghosts from Buddhism, Taoism, the Qing Dynasty, and Japanese colonial rule can be seen.
The Facebook post drew a strong reaction from Taiwanese netizens, quickly garnering 89,000 likes and 46,000 comments:
"For the first time in history the exhibits will come on their own."
"Do the tickets come with free glutinous rice (to ward off evil)?"
"Will the ticket come in the form of a talisman?"
Even Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) left a comment which read: "When I clicked on it, I felt a bit overwhelmed." In response to the museum's announcement, astrologist and psychic Kuan Se Sian Koo (勸世仙姑) uploaded a map that day showing that there are 10 temples that are each at least a century old in a 300-meter radius from the museum.
Recent version of exhibition displayed in France. (Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac photo)
