Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) yesterday announced plans to open an architecture and culture center in 2026, while museums nationwide prepared to celebrate International Museum Day with special events.
“Museums are the most important foundation of a country’s cultural power,” Shih told a news conference in Taipei.
While the Ministry of Culture is in charge of setting culture-related policies, museums come into direct contact with the public, he said, adding that museums can perpetuate the finite human existence when people are willing to entrust precious creations and stories to them.
Photo: CNA
The architecture and culture center is the result of the long-term advocacy and efforts of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), he said.
After consulting with experts, the ministry has chosen a building in the Railway Department Park in Taipei as the site of the center, he said.
The ministry is to allocate a budget of NT$160 million (US$4.94 million) to the project, including for renovating the building into exhibition spaces and curating exhibitions, he said.
Architecture represents the aesthetics of Taiwan’s social space, Shih said, adding that he hopes the center could facilitate studies of Taiwan’s architecture and bring the nation’s architectural aesthetics to the world.
He said that launching the project was meaningful to him before he on Monday next week hands over his position to incoming minister of culture Li Yuan (李遠), better known by his pen name Hsiao Yeh (小野).
Leaving the post is not a graduation ceremony, but the curtain call of a concert, Shih said.
“If we perform well and the audience feels it, I think we should continue to do this,” he said.
Wu said that museums should be close to society and people’s lives, adding that she has visited museums during legislative elections to calm her mind.
In 1977, the International Council of Museums designated May 18 as International Museum Day, and it organizes events on and around the date to “highlight the importance of the role of museums as institutions that serve society and its development,” the council said.
To mark the occasion this year, the National Taiwan Museum has collaborated with Taipei Garden Hotel to open museum-themed rooms and launch cultural sightseeing bus routes to encourage tourists to explore Taiwan’s culture, the ministry said.
The National Palace Museum, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Natural Science, the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology and other facilities around Taiwan are also to hold special events over the weekend to celebrate International Museum Day.
Details can be found on the Facebook page “518 International Museum Day” (518國際博物館日).
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
RSS