Revisiting the New Horizons Exhibition: Origins of TFAM’s Contemporary Context
June 8–September 1, 2013
Taipei Fine Arts Museum
181, Zhong Shan N. Road, Sec. 3
Taipei 10461, Taiwan
T +886 2 2595 7656
F +886 2 2585 1886
Curator: Liao Tsun-ling
Participating artists: Chang Yung-Tsun, Chen Cheng-Hsun, Chen Chhi-Hsien, Chen Hsing-Wan, Chien Fu-Chuan, Fan Kang-Long, Hu Kun-Jung, Huang Chih-Yang, Huang Hai-Yun, Huang Hung-The, Huang Ren-Ho, Huang Tzang-You, Ju Chang-Bor, Ku Shih-Yung, Lai Jun T.T., Li Akibo, Li Chin-Chou, Lien Der-Cheng, Lin Horng-Wen, Lin Richard, Lin Wen-An, Lin Yeng-Tsuen, Lu Hsien-Ming, Lu Ming-Te, Pei Chi-Yu, Shiao Li-Hueng, Tsong Pu, Wu Tian-Chang, Yang Po-Lin
The Birth of a Museum… Looking Back at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s Founding in 1983… Researching the Beginnings of Contemporary Art in Taiwan…
In the 1980s, film, literature and dance in Taiwan all underwent stylistic transformations. On December 24, 1983 the Taipei Fine Arts Museum formally opened to the public, marking the birth of Taiwan’s first modern art museum and planting a seed for future development of the museum concept in Taiwan’s visual art field. This year, on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary, the museum is planning a series of publications, special programs and events that look back on its own history. One such event, Revisiting the New Horizons Exhibition: Origins of TFAM’s Contemporary Context, returns to the museum’s inception to seek a dialog with the past through its exhibitions, and explore the source of its contemporary art development and position in the broader art world of Taiwan.
Revisiting New Horizons will focus on the first ten years of the museum’s operation, a key period in the development of contemporary art in Taiwan. In this decade, the museum rode the momentum of a burgeoning contemporary art movement and contributed to its eventual structure and vision in the ’90s. During this period the museum held a series of six large-scale, biennial competitions and exhibitions aimed at promoting contemporary art; starting with New Horizons: Contemporary Trends in Chinese Art in 1984, ending with The Taipei Biennial of Contemporary Art in 1994, and under the rubric of New Horizons, a context for thematic development was created. The series of exhibitions represented several historical and transformative phases, in which the use of names, emergence of new media, and the regulation of contest rules all reflected artistic innovations of each new phase while opening up the possibility for various new capabilities in art.
In Revisiting New Horizons the museum looks back on valuable documentation, images and artworks from the early exhibition series to more clearly see its own standing at that time and explore how artists dealt with the museum space and competition mechanism. The exhibition will provide a framework from which to better understand the artists and museum’s role in the early history of contemporary art development in Taiwan.
In addition to the contribution it has made to the development of Taiwan’s art world, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum holds the distinction of being the island’s first modern art museum and carries great significance for its people. Therefore, when looking back on the museum’s establishment, its architecture is an aspect that cannot be neglected. This building was designed by Taiwanese architect Kao Ehr-pan, his concept and the review process for the architectural design competition has continued to deeply resonate at the museum, and has served as an important point of reference in establishing historical views of the institution. The curator has set “the birth of a museum” as an unique project in the exhibition, and with recorded interviews, films and documents takes a close look at the source of the museum’s architecture to understand how the architect combined concepts originating in both the East and West to create a space that is modern in style, functions as a museum and inspires artists in their creative development.
Revisiting New Horizons looks back at the early exhibition history of the museum in the hopes of prompting deeper considerations on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary. The exhibition presents notions of the museum that have been produced in different fields, and explores the concept of a fine arts museum, which arrived in Taiwan from abroad, and how this concept has been realized in Taiwan’s cultural field.
For press enquires please contact: Yang Shunwen, yangsw [at] tfam.gov.tw.
