Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Contemporary art museum in Datong District, Taiwan
The Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei is a contemporary art museum in the Datong District of Taipei, housed in a red-brick building from the Japanese colonial period on Chang'an West Road. The two-story structure has a small belltower and several gallery rooms arranged around a central corridor, used for rotating and visiting shows.
The building was constructed in 1921 during Japanese rule as the Jian Cheng Elementary School. After World War II it served as the Taipei City Government headquarters for several decades before being converted into a contemporary art museum in 2001.
The museum presents rotating shows featuring Taiwanese and international artists working across installation, video, and performance. Many of these exhibitions are conceived in direct dialogue with the historic building, using its rooms as part of the artistic statement.
The museum is a short walk from Zhongshan MRT Station and easy to reach on foot from the city center. It is worth checking what is currently on show before visiting, as the program changes regularly and some exhibitions require separate bookings.
Before becoming a museum, the building spent several decades as Taipei's city hall, which means many older residents still associate it with civic life rather than art. This layered history, from school to government seat to gallery, is unusual for a building of its size anywhere in the region.
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