The North American Gallery Turns 30: A Year-Long Celebration

Text by MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Life Network, compiled and reported by Chen Guanxin

 

To celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of the North American Gallery, the festivities kick off with its 29th anniversary events. Starting December 23, a variety of special activities are planned over the course of a year, including expanded audience participation, a 30th-anniversary premium commemorative ticket set, the Zheng Shanjhi 12-Zodiac Print Joint Exhibition, as well as exhibitions showcasing the diversity and retrospectives of contemporary Taiwanese art, thematic exhibitions on collection restoration, internationally curated contemporary art displays, and several publishing projects themed around the 30-year retrospective. The goal is to use this rich and fulfilling year-long program of activities to once again connect audiences from all walks of life with the museum and enrich their shared life experiences.

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum officially opened on December 25, 1983. The North American Gallery will welcome its 30th anniversary in 2013, with a series of special events launching on December 23, 2012, for its 29th anniversary. First, from the museum’s opening in 1983 to the end of November 2012, cumulative visitor numbers reached 16,847,987. Therefore, the special plans for the 30th anniversary take “people” as the central concept. In the expanded audience participation activities, under the theme “1 out of 16,847,987 + The Museum Is Looking for You,” for one year starting December 23, images will be used as tools to upload batches of archival photos and digital image materials from the museum to a dedicated event website. This provides visitors with an online platform to search for personal memories they may have left at the North American Gallery, along with opportunities to claim commemorative photos.

 

For the commemorative premium ticket set, the North American Gallery is publicly issuing a limited-edition commemorative ticket set that can be used as admission tickets and also has collectible value, in celebration of its 30th anniversary. Three different designs are planned, to be launched sequentially in December 2012, June 2013, and December 2013. The first edition of the commemorative ticket set includes six valid tickets, beginning with a photo from before the museum opened in 1983 during its construction phase. The selected images mainly feature artists using the spaces inside and outside the museum as artistic canvases. The first edition will go on sale at 9:30 AM on December 25, 2012.

Since 2002, the North American Gallery has annually invited renowned ink painter and first recipient of the National Arts Award in the fine arts category, Zheng Shanjhi, to create unique zodiac-themed New Year prints for the museum. From the very first “Horse Year” print, each has been a masterpiece, eagerly anticipated by all each year. 2013 marks the 12th year that Zheng Shanjhi has created these zodiac prints. The North American Gallery will unveil the “Snake Year” print together with Zheng Shanjhi and present a complete exhibition of the 12 years of prints in the “12 Zodiac Signs Have Arrived” print joint exhibition. The event will be held in the North American Gallery lobby from February 5 to February 24, 2013.

 

Other exhibitions include themes such as the display of premium collections, diverse aspects and retrospectives of contemporary art, international exchanges, and showcases. The content spans the “Hidden Truths – Conservation Exhibition of Collection Pieces,” debuting on February 2, 2013, which is the North American Gallery’s first exhibition displaying major conservation results of oil paintings, mineral paintings, and paper works over the years; the tentatively scheduled 30th-anniversary retrospective exhibition “Before ↔ After” on June 8, 2013, which takes a look back at the 30-year history of the North American Gallery, focusing on the critical development period from the first half of the 1980s to the 1990s, amid broader shifts in politics, economy, society, and especially the evolution of contemporary art; and the “Sounding Light – Cross-Disciplinary Sound and Light Installation Exhibition,” scheduled for September 28, 2013, in the first-floor exhibition space. Seen as a highlight international exhibition for the end of 2013, this project is co-organized by the North American Gallery and France’s Groupe de Recherches Musicales de Lyon (GRAME) in 2013. It is curated for Taiwanese audiences by James Giroudon, one of the founders of GRAME, and features multimedia audiovisual works by 16 international artists. Through the interplay of soundscapes and intersecting visual lines, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the vast spaces of the North American Gallery.

 

● Read more: Countdown to the End of the World – Taichung National Science and Technology Museum Marks December 21

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