An unconventional use of floorspace adds to the aesthetic at TFAM

Taipei is full of museums, so we here at WoWasis love to group them into geographical areas where we can see them all in a day, or an afternoon. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) are only three MRT stops away from each other (or you could walk the Zhongshan Metro Mall beneath the streets, which connects them; MOCA usually has an exhibit down there as well).

We’d recommend starting at TFAM first, as you’ll probably spend more time there. A big part of the TFAM experience is the architectural structure itself, which has created interior spaces that do not allow the visitor to view art in the standard linear procedural fashion. It’s set in a series of horizontal blocks that replicate an Asian letter, so it’s easy to become lost. Which is precisely the point. One of the three exhibitions during our visit was a retrospective of the work of Read Lee, a local painter, visionary, and teacher. He died having sold only one painting, and the only reason he sold that one was to assist one of his students. Some 2,000 works of Read’s were displayed. Like Picasso, he had “periods.” The curators of the show correlated the periods to various rooms, but the rooms weren’t necessarily contiguous. It was very much, it seemed to us, as though we were walking inside the evolving, ever-changing, emotional mind of the painter. In essence, the museum layout of the museum’s permanent interior space drove the metaphor. Having seen thousands of shows and museums in our time, this experience really stood out. TFAM shouldn’t be missed.

MOCA’s forte leans more to performance and conceptual art. Although we at WoWasis are fairly well-schooled in classic performance art (e.g. Vito Acconci, et.al), we still josh around a bit about museums such as MOCA always having a place to throw some wood shavings in a corner and call it art. And sure enough, they did. MOCA is housed in a beautiful brick two story building that was once Taipei’s City Hall.

These two museums are so close together that we encourage you to see them on the same day. If you’re an art lover, there’s bound to be something at either of these two art establishments that you’ll find compelling.

Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM)
181 Jhongshan North  Road
Tel: 02-2595-7656
Open Tuesday-Sunday
www.tfam.gov.tw
MRT stop Yuanshan
This tiny museum, offers exhibitions on making paper and hosts both permanent and temporary exhibitions, all relating to the aesthetics of paper.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
39 Changan West Road
Tel: (02) 2552-3720
Open Tuesday-Sunday
www.mocataipei.org.tw
MRT stop Zhongshan