‘Getting Lost is Good’: Skybridge and Floating Stairs Add Excitement and Adventure to Grand New Taiwanese Cultural Hub.
Navigating the recently inaugurated Taichung Art Museum in central Taiwan feels like wandering through a conceptual maze. The brainchild of the renowned Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, the complex comprises eight playfully tilted buildings that effortlessly combine an art museum with a public library. Clad with shimmering, mesh-like silver walls, the interior boasts soaring ceilings and meandering pathways.
Beyond the airy lobby—a space that blurs boundaries—visitors amble along paths and ramps, suddenly transitioning in a library one moment and a internationally significant art exhibition the next. A doorway might unexpectedly lead a overhead passage suspended above a rooftop garden, revealing sweeping panoramas of Taichung’s Central Park, or into a intimate teenage reading nook. Staircases appear to float on building exteriors, and floor levels are deliberately disparate, serving each space’s unique purpose and vibe rather than adhering to a rigid, uniform layout.
“It is ‘a place designed for wandering’,” notes Lan Yu-hua, an associate researcher at the museum, with a laugh. But she insists that’s a feature to celebrate: “We say that disorientation is beneficial.”
This city-funded initiative stands as the latest in a string of ambitiously designed museums and performance venues unveiled across Taiwan over the past two decades.
Pritzker Laureates at Work
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 worked alongside the Taiwanese firm Ricky Liu & Associates Architects+Planners on the lengthy development. The Taichung city government’s original request was for an art museum and a library on a single site.
The completed project has blurred the distinctions between the two institutions. The design seems intended to slow down, imagining a day spent studying or creating in the library, broken up with leisurely walks through gallery spaces.
“We are extremely pleased that we are with the library under one roof, because I think that can really open up another layer of audiences for us,” states Yi-Hsin Lai, the museum’s director.
Opening Displays Spanning Cultures
The museum’s opening program feature new installations 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 common to Taiwan and Korea. Suspended within 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 varied but harmonious mix of new installations and recent acquisitions by artists from 20 countries. Curated by an international team, it juxtaposes master painters from mid-20th century Taiwan alongside postmodern video works. In a notable coup, the curators also secured original early sketches from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and archival photographs of Helen Keller.
The exhibition places a strong emphasis on Taiwanese artists, particularly those from Taichung. There is also a particular effort on including artists with disabilities—a timely initiative.
Raising the Global Art Scene’s Awareness
For Taiwan’s art sector, this new museum represents a key moment to enhance the island’s profile 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 expanding sector of private galleries. However, it has had difficulty to attract international art tourists.
“It’s quite active and flourishing now. We hope that in a few years Taichung can be an major hub for the arts in Asia,” expresses Director Lai.
Claudia Chen, chair of a major Taiwanese art association, describes the new museum as a potential “gamechanger” for the country, “redirecting attention from the north to south.”
“While Taichung and southern Taiwan have had many arts and cultural events in the past, none have reached the magnitude and significance of Taipei,” Chen notes.
Another arts foundation executive, Jenny Yeh, points out that Sanaa’s involvement has garnered global interest and accelerated Taiwan’s existing artistic momentum. “This will motivate 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, preparing for a overwhelmingly domestic audience, at least initially, alongside visiting international press and museum professionals.
