‘Embrace the Maze’: Elevated Walkways and Suspended Steps Add Excitement and Adventure to Grand New Taiwanese Cultural Hub.
Navigating the brand new Taichung Art Museum in the heart of Taiwan feels like engaging with a living sculpture. The brainchild of the prestigious Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, the structure consists of eight unconventionally angled buildings that effortlessly combine an art museum with a public library. Encased in shimmering, mesh-like silver walls, the interior boasts vast vertical spaces and meandering pathways.
Beyond the airy lobby—a space that defies categorization—visitors amble along walkways and inclines, discovering they are in a library one moment and a internationally significant art exhibition the next. A portal might unexpectedly lead a elevated walkway offering vistas from a rooftop garden, granting sweeping panoramas of Taichung’s Central Park, or into a snug teenage reading nook. Floating staircases cling on building exteriors, and floor levels vary intentionally, serving each space’s unique role and energy rather than adhering to a rigid, standardized design.
“It is ‘simple to lose your way within’,” notes Lan Yu-hua, an associate researcher at the museum, chuckling. But she argues that’s a feature to celebrate: “We say that losing your way is positive.”
This municipal government-led project stands as the latest in a series of prominent museums and performance venues opened across Taiwan over the past two decades.
A Meeting of Architectural Minds
Led by 2010 Pritzker Prize laureates Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa—creators of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the Sydney Modern gallery—Sanaa partnered with the Taiwanese firm Ricky Liu & Associates Architects+Planners on the multi-year build. The Taichung city government’s original request was for an art museum and a library on a single site.
The end product has erased the lines between the two institutions. The design prompts one to slow down, imagining a day spent reading or working in the library, broken up with leisurely walks through gallery spaces.
“We are truly delighted that we are with the library in a shared space, because I think that can truly attract another layer of audiences for us,” states Yi-Hsin Lai, the museum’s director.
Launch Shows with International Flair
The museum’s launch exhibitions feature specially created pieces by esteemed South Korean artist Haegue Yang and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin. Yang’s immersive work offers an abstract representation on the banyan trees and fireflies found throughout Taiwan and Korea. Hanging from the 27-meter-high central atrium, it blends her signature venetian blinds with lights and steel frames. At night, the glowing light from her work illuminates the exterior mesh from a kilometer away.
The larger opening exhibition, titled A Call of All Beings, is an eclectic but coherent mix of commissioned works and newly acquired pieces by artists from 20 countries. Organized by an international team, it juxtaposes master painters from mid-20th century Taiwan alongside postmodern video works. In a significant achievement, the curators also secured original early sketches from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and archival photographs of Helen Keller.
The exhibition highlights Taiwanese artists, with a focus on those from Taichung. There is also a conscious emphasis on including artists with disabilities—a relevant initiative.
Raising the Global Art Scene’s Awareness
For Taiwan’s art sector, this new museum represents a key moment to increase international recognition in the global art scene and further “decentralize” cultural focus from the capital, Taipei. Taichung, the island’s biggest metropolitan area outside Taipei, is a quick high-speed rail journey from Taipei and already hosts a respected Museum of Fine Arts and a growing sector of private galleries. However, it has historically struggled to attract international art tourists.
“It’s quite active and flourishing now. We hope that in a few years Taichung can be an artistic landmark Asian city,” expresses Director Lai.
Claudia Chen, chair of a major Taiwanese art association, describes the new museum as a potential “gamechanger” for the country, “shifting the focus from the north to south.”
“While Taichung and southern Taiwan have had many arts and cultural events in the past, none have reached the prestige and impact of Taipei,” Chen notes.
Another arts foundation executive, Jenny Yeh, highlights that Sanaa’s involvement has attracted worldwide notice and accelerated Taiwan’s existing artistic momentum. “This will encourage more international visitors to explore beyond Taipei and develop a more complete understanding of Taiwan’s cultural landscape. Overall, it will be a tremendous help to Taiwan’s visibility on the global stage.”
The museum commences public operations in mid-December, anticipating a mostly regional audience, at least initially, alongside visiting international press and museum professionals.
