Navigating the brand new Taichung Art Museum in central Taiwan feels like engaging with a living sculpture. Designed by the celebrated Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, the campus unites eight playfully tilted buildings that seamlessly merge an art museum with a public library. Wrapped in shimmering, mesh-like silver walls, the interior boasts soaring ceilings and curving walkways.
Beyond the airy lobby—a space that exists between inside and out—visitors drift along walkways and inclines, finding themselves in a library one moment and a world-class art exhibition the next. A doorway might guide one onto a overhead passage 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 shift purposefully, serving each space’s unique purpose and vibe rather than imposing a rigid, uniform layout.
“It is ‘simple to lose your way within’,” observes Lan Yu-hua, an associate researcher at the museum, with a laugh. But she insists that’s something to embrace: “We say that losing your way is positive.”
This civic undertaking stands as the newest in a series of high-profile 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—known for 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 six-year construction. 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 seems intended to slow down, easily picturing a day spent reading or working in the library, interspersed with leisurely walks through gallery spaces.
“We are so glad that we are with the library all together, because I think that can really open up another layer of audiences for us,” states Yi-Hsin Lai, the museum’s director.
Launch Shows with International Flair
The museum’s inaugural presentation feature new installations by esteemed South Korean artist Haegue Yang and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin. Yang’s large-scale installation offers an abstract interpretation on the banyan trees and fireflies ubiquitous in Taiwan and Korea. Dangling in 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 is visible through the exterior mesh from a kilometer away.
The larger opening exhibition, titled A Call of All Beings, is an diverse yet unified mix of specially made and freshly collected art 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 significant achievement, the curators also obtained original early sketches from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and archival photographs of Helen Keller.
The exhibition prioritizes Taiwanese artists, particularly those from Taichung. There is also a dedicated focus on including artists with disabilities—a poignant initiative.
Elevating Taiwan’s Cultural Profile
For Taiwan’s art sector, this new museum represents a key moment to raise Taiwan’s presence 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 short, easy trip from Taipei and boasts a respected Museum of Fine Arts and a burgeoning sector of private galleries. However, it has found it challenging to attract international art tourists.
“It’s quite dynamic and vibrant 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 scale and importance of Taipei,” Chen notes.
Another arts foundation executive, Jenny Yeh, points out that Sanaa’s involvement has garnered global interest and amplified Taiwan’s existing artistic momentum. “This will motivate more international visitors to explore beyond Taipei and gain a fuller sense of Taiwan’s cultural landscape. Overall, it will be a significant lift to Taiwan’s visibility on the global stage.”
The museum commences public operations in mid-December, expecting a overwhelmingly domestic audience, at least initially, alongside visiting international press and museum professionals.
