National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts-Director Introduction

Other experiences include Research Fellow, National Museum of History; Adjunct Associate Professor, MFA and Ph.D. Programs, National Taiwan Normal University; Visiting Professor, Ecole des Beaux-arts de Bourges; Visiting Scholar, Department of Art History, Université François‐Rabelais de Tours. Also served as Editor-in-chief of The Sculpture Research Semiyearly; a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Palace Museum, National Museum of History, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, and Taiwan Art Gallery Association; a consultant for the Quanta Culture & Education Foundation; a member of the Nomination Committee of the Triennale Mondiale de l'Estampe (International Triennial of Prints), France; a juror of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, National Award for Arts, Kaohsiung Award, Taishin Arts Award, Chung-Shan Youth Art Awards, Union Culture & Art Foundation Young Artist Award, Grand View Emerging Artists Award, and other international and national major awards; a member of the Textbook Review Board of the National Institute for Compilation and Translation and National Academy for Education Research.

Curatorial Experience

Served as a curatorial/academic consultant for major international exhibitions, including the exhibitions of Millet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Miró, and Monet presented at the National Museum of History, and the exhibitions of Gauguin and Monet at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, as well as the exhibition presented at the National Palace Museum on artworks from the collection of The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Exhibitions curated include Millet, Corot and Pleiades of Barbizon School from Jin(Nakamura) Collection (National Museum of History, 2004); The Artist’s Book, From Matisse to Contemporary Art (National Museum of History, 2007); Lifetime Colon－Chiu Ya-Tsai Retrospective Exhibition (Yilan Museum of Art, 2019); Chrono-contemporary (MoCA Taipei, 2021); An Incomplete Journey – Lin Jui-Chen and His Peers (Yilan Museum of Art, 2021), and others.

Words from the Director / Philosophy

I would like to first thank Premier Chen Chien-Jen and Minister of Culture Shih Che for their trust in me, and for giving me this opportunity to join the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, which I am both excited and apprehensive about. To serve as the director of Taiwan’s only national art museum is a tremendous honor, but it also comes with heavy responsibilities. Globally renowned national art museums, such as the National Gallery in London, the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, are all entrusted with the responsibility of writing the art history and preserving and conserving the cultural heritage of their respective countries. The museum’s collected artworks not only hold high artistic values but also serve as evidence of history and cultural relics that shape our collective memory. They also open and evoke our national awareness and identity, with the indispensable role of “keeper” undertaken by the museum’s director and the entire staff.

However, besides cultural heritage preservation, an art museum also needs to classify and organize artworks with shared meaning, with further contextualization and interpretation conducted, in order for knowledge, recognitions, discourses, and sentiments to be formed, and ultimately, transform them into something of value for both the owner and the visitors. This is the purpose behind the research done by an art museum and also shows that an art museum must also serve as a research institution and the conservators should also be researchers, with the research outcomes periodically presented to the public through curatorial means. Moreover, how do we make our museum an attractive place to visit? How to make the audience want to come in? How can we make our audiences, regardless of their age, occupation, background, or gender, enjoy the exhibitions, partake in the museum’s various activities, enjoy learning about different artists, and fall in love with art? This is the responsibility and the mission of every single one of us who works at the museum. When I was a student, in order to support my living expenses, I worked as a guide at the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, where I was often stunned by the crowds that gathered in those museums. The visitors ranged from toddlers to octogenarians, and countless people from all over the world visited those museums, some with their heads tilted down in deep thought, while others had their heads raised in awe. And because of the magic of art, the air in those museums felt vivacious and vibrant. I envision the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts to become a place like that, a place that connects the past, the present, and the future, a place where passion, creativity, and dreams converge, a place where all barriers and estrangements are expunged because of art.

Bearing this in mind, my primary objective in taking on the role of director is “professionalism”: I look forward to serving the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the artists of Taiwan, and the people of our nation with my professional expertise and enthusiasm. I also anticipate leading the entire staff of the museum to work together so that the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts can continue to develop into a museum of comprehensive professionalism and excellence and live up to the expectations of the people as a national art museum. My second objective is “innovation”: As more art museums continue to be founded around the world and the number of visitors on the rise, along with constantly updated concepts and methods of art history and curatorial practice, for the art museum to be sustainable and competitive, we must be able to keep abreast of current trends and new art knowledge, as well as think beyond existing frameworks. By applying innovation in managing and expanding the museum’s tasks, we aim to stand on equal footing with other art museums of the same caliber around the world and to engage in dialogue and exchange ideas with them. And last but not least, I will also focus on “diversity”: The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts needs to be dedicated to showing the vitality, diversity, and richness of Taiwan’s culture; therefore, the museum’s collection also needs to be diverse, as well as the research conducted, the exhibitions presented, and the people that we provide our services to should also be diverse. We need to respect individual differences and strive to achieve cultural equity.

This year marks the 35^th anniversary of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and the museum’s scale and achievements reached today are due to the pioneering effort and resources from the government, the tireless hard work by everyone in the arts across different generations, and the dedication of each museum staff and volunteers, as well as the wise leadership and the development led by the past directors of the museum. I hereby extend my utmost respect to them. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the municipal government of Taichung City, where the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts is located, the people and artists based in Taichung, as well as the sponsorship and encouragement from countless friends in the private sector; they have always been there for us and is the museum’s strongest support system. Now that the baton has been handed over to me, I look forward to fulfilling my mission during my term of office and would be immensely grateful for your continued friendship and support.