After five years of preparation, the Institute of Contemporary Arts Taipei (臺北當代藝術館) opens today. Although arrangements for the management of the venue have not been finalized, exhibitions featuring local and foreign artists have already begun.
The new museum is currently administered by the Taipei City Bureau of Cultural Affairs, whose director Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) is actively seeking a professional management team from the private sector to take over the center. Both local and foreign companies have been invited to bid for the management contract. The Cultural Affairs Bureau is asking the prospective management to put up an annual budget of NT$24 million, equal to the amount the bureau is contributing, and also to form a team of professionals to organize exhibitions at the new center.
Lai Ying-ying (賴瑛瑛), the museum's curator, says that exhibitions at the center will reflect the local contemporary art scene and also reach out to the international art community. The institute's aim is to the shed the exclusiveness that people often associate with contemporary art. Originally, the location was earmarked to become a branch of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, but was re-designated as an independent art center in 1998 when Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took over as Taipei's mayor.
The inaugural exhibition, titled "The Gravity of the Immaterial" (輕且重的震憾) has been in preparation for six months. It showcases 26 art projects spanning painting, photography, installations, video and Internet technology by six foreign artists and three local artists. The artists on show are Peter Borgers and Bert Schutter from Holland, Catherine Chalmers, Margot LoveJoy, and Alan Rath from the US, and Katsuhio Yamaguchi from Japan. The three local artists are Wu Mali (吳瑪俐) and Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中), both of whom have both shown work at the Venice Biennale, and Michael Lin (林明弘), who will be showing work there in June.
The museum is located in an 80-year-old historical building on Chang-an West Road (長安西路) close to the Taipei Train Station. During the Japanese colonial period, the building housed the Chiencheng Elementary School (建成國小) and later also served for a period as Taipei City Hall. It has now been designated an historic building.
For your information:
Institute of Contemporary Arts
Address: 39 Changan W. Rd., (
Telephone: 2552-3720.
Open hours:10am to 6pm. Closed Monday.
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