White Fungus #17
210 x 280 mm, 162 pages
Taiwan
Annual (pre-pandemic)
Published since 2004
Editor-in-chief: Ron Hanson
Art director and designer: Mark Hanson
Chief designer: Johnny Hu
White Fungus is back! Having paused during the pandemic, the Taiwan-based arts magazine makes its much awaited return to print in years. First published in 2004 by brothers Mark and Ron Hanson in New Zealand (as a political zine protesting the construction of a motorway no less), the magazine has since relocated and evolved into the curious collection of stories on art, cultural history, music and politics that you see today. Each cover features a scan of white fungus—a wild mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine—sourced from the brothers' local supermarket.
Inside this issue: a firework ritual dedicated to 'Taitung's Gangster God', a pilgrimage photographing deity statues across the island, fifty years of the revolutionary Art Ensemble of Chicago, and composer Annea Lockwood's pivotal years in London. And given its return for the first time since the pandemic, it seems only fitting that the opening story of this issue sings some 'urgent praise for our winged kin', bats.