Getting uplifted while being moved around

One of the most popular pieces, however, is Suite of Hands (手之組曲), by Lee Kuang-yu (李光裕) at the NTU Hospital station. The four bronze sculptures depict hands interlocking as in meditation or delicately holding a lotus flower. Yin said the artist chose the hospital station for this installation as a way to soothe anxious people visiting the hospital through the sculptures' themes of unity, protection and perseverance.

Beyond its reassuring theme matter, several pieces in Suite of Hands also double as station furniture, which is another reason it has been a favorite among harried MRT riders.

"These sculptures are perfect examples of successful public art, by being practical and contextually appropriate at the same time," Yin said.

In contrast to the art in some of the world's great MRT systems, like London's or the Paris Metropolitan, the art in Taipei's MRT tends toward the high-tech and modern, which reflects the age of the artists commissioned and the cyber bent of the city's residents. An example of this might be Lin Shu-ming's (林書民) Metamorphosis (非想,想飛), which are another of this famed artist's holograms that lines the wall next to the escalator at CKS Memorial Hall's exit three. The images is intended to metaphorically reflect the city's population moving together through time and change.

Few images could be more appropriate to Taipei, where neighborhoods disappear and reappear in different form seemingly overnight. The art is a way of capturing this process and freezing some aspects of the city that are lost forever, Yang said.

This may be the case of the Luchou line, set to open in five years. The art along the line's five planned stops will bear the theme of the egret, the bird from which the town got its name and which is now only rarely spotted in the area.

Public art can be found at the following MRT stops: Minchuan West Rd. station, Shuanglien station, Chungshan station, NTU Hospital station, Nanshih Chiao station, CKS Memorial Hall station, Kuting station, Kungkuan station, Hsintien station, Tapei Main station, Chunghsiao Tunhua station, Taipei City Hall station and Kunyang station.