Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立 美術館) Director Lin Mun-lee (林曼麗) yesterday claimed she had been forced to step down and urged the authorities to respect professionalism in the arts and stop the "abuse of administrative powers."
"I feel sorry that I have to leave, but I'm afraid I don't have much choice," she said at her final press conference yesterday. "I am not leaving to evade problems but for a simple reason -- dignity."
Lin had been scheduled to report on the progress of the upcoming second biennial international art exhibition entitled "2000 Taipei Biennial: The Sky is the Limit" (
Instead, she was pressed to deal with her controversial resignation, which is effective Aug. 1.
Lin said she had been asked to a take up a senior specialist position at the city's Bureau of Cultural Affairs (
"It's an insult to me not only personally but also professionally," Lin said of the offer.
After the five-hour meeting, she handed in her resignation on July 14, about four months before her contract expires in November.
Lin said she has learned a good lesson from the incident: "It highlights a larger and more serious problem, which is that authority interferes and abuses its administrative powers in the development of arts, rather than assists and respects professional expertise," she said.
"It also shows that our arts industry is at a crossroads and the question is to upgrade or downgrade its future development."
The war between the two women started on April 23 when Lin said in a seminar that Lung applied "White Terror' tactics, by requesting the city's anti-corruption unit investigate a room planning project at the Second Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市第二美術館).
"It's a surreal and ridiculous idea," Lin said. "You simply cannot make such a request unless a criminal action is suspected."
This criticism prompted city councilors to call for action from Lung and make a decision within 10 days about Lin's future.
On May 18, Lung invited Lin to a meeting, five hours long, after which both women said that there had been misunderstandings between them and they wanted to put these aside.
But, they were obviously still divided and Lung later said she was "deeply hurt" by the incident, when Lin accused her of being "a layman interfering in a professional's job." Lin responded by saying their differences were caused by their respective stances.
Lung later stressed the importance of "administrative ethics" -- meaning a subordinate should show respect for his or her supervisor -- and on May 19 she reportedly asked one of her assistants to tell Lin she wanted her to resign before she left on an overseas trip on July 14.
Lin complied with the request and Lung accepted the resignation. Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
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