After five years of renovation and controversy, the Taipei Contempo-rary Arts Museum (台北當代藝術館) is set to open its doors in May. However, the city government has yet to find a suitable team to manage its operation.
At a media event held at the museum yesterday, Lung Ying-tai (
"We're not asking for donations, although we desperately need them ... we're asking those who are interested in museum management to form a professional team to compete in the bidding," she said, adding that the interested party needs to marshal an annual budget of NT$24 million -- as does the bureau.
The cooperation format marks the first of its kind for city-owned, privately run museums. Another cooperation effort, though different in format, ended when the former consignee of the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum failed to win operation rights for a second year over what was believed to be an abuse of funds.
Although the Acer Group had previously expressed an interest in managing the Contemporary Arts Museum, its recent downsizing has prevented it from doing so.
"But it didn't bail out. It's just offering help in a different way," Lung said, without specifying further details.
However, the group has donated NT$5 million to make the reopening exhibition possible. The three-month exhibition, entitled "The Gravity of the Immaterial" (
As for the future museum director, Lung said that the person does not necessarily need to be an artist but needs to have extensive experience with administration.
* The building originally housed the Chiencheng Elementary School during the Japanese colonial period.
* It later was used for the old Taipei City Hall.
Source: Taipei Times
Lung's remark apparently referred to Lin Mun-lee (
The friction between the two women eventually cost Lin her job.
Lin had accused her supervisor, Lung, of applying "White Terror tactics" when the bureau asked the city's anti-corruption unit to conduct an investigation into the Contemporary Arts Museum's operations.
She also accused Lung of being "a layman interfering in a professional's job" and urged her to respect professionalism in the arts and stop the "abuse of administrative powers."
Lung fought back by saying that "an artist does not necessarily make a good manager, just as a good manager does not necessarily have to be an artist."
The 3,672m2, two-floor Contemporary Arts museum is located on Chungan West Road (
The red-brick U-shaped building originally housed the Chiencheng Elementary School (建成國小) during the Japanese colonial period.
It later was used for the old Taipei City Hall. In 1995, the front part of the building was designated to become the site of the museum, while the building's wings became a school dormitory.
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