Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Introduction
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (referred to as KMFA) was established in 1994, located in the northwest metropolitan area of Kaohsiung City within the Neiweipi Cultural Park, which was originally part of the "Neiweipi" wetland area. The northern part of the region is bordered by Guishan and Banping Mountain, while the west is flanked by Shoushan, creating a landscape surrounded by mountains and waters, with the Love River flowing through the area. In 2017, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts was restructured as a cultural institution under the Kaohsiung City Government, continuing to deepen local culture and collecting works by Taiwanese artists. Each year, it organizes events like the "Kaohsiung Award" and "KS Kaohsiung Experimental Field" to support up-and-coming artists. Besides curating thematic exhibitions and artist research exhibitions, it is also dedicated to collaborating and exchanging with world-class museums, introducing various large-scale international exhibitions, providing the public with broader and more diverse contemporary art experiences. In recent years, KMFA has also actively developed online interactive resources, such as 360-degree panoramic exhibition venues, online guided tours, an online art database (including visual image databases, contemporary memory projects of the Austronesian peoples, and the reading of the Ten Thousand Nights Collection), and a YouTube channel, which are updated irregularly with different exhibitions, making the museum not just a cultural and artistic visit location, but also a platform for knowledge sharing. The KMFA building consists of four above-ground floors and two basement levels; the first floor hosts international exhibitions and contemporary art galleries, the second floor focuses on thematic curation or artist research exhibitions, the third floor features a collection room of diverse Southern perspectives, and the fourth floor is an exhibition space for contemporary experimental works. The basement includes a lecture hall with 352 seats and art resource classrooms for group art education, as well as an art research room that houses over 46,000 volumes of art books and materials available for free access and research. In 2005, KMFA converted the "Visitor Service Center" located on the west side of the park into a Children's Museum of Art, the first public museum in Taiwan specifically designed for children. This three-story main building and outdoor garden is an ecological landscape that integrates culture, art, education, leisure, and play. Unlike traditional art and humanities education in schools, the Children's Museum of Art combines museum education and children's art education, integrating interactive exhibits and art education outreach activities to provide rich, interesting, and lively educational display designs through thematic planning. It allows children to learn through play in art via exploration, observation, experience, and imagination. In recent years, the Children's Museum has integrated the landscape ecology of Neiweipi Cultural Park and the resources of KMFA, with a primary goal of deepening children's art education and promoting it by consolidating community and school resources, aiming towards "ecology, environmental protection, culture, and art." Surrounded by lush greenery, the front sandpit serves as a play paradise for parents and children. The museum park spans 43 hectares and is home to over 40 art sculptures and public art pieces distributed among the park’s lakes, forests, and meadows, showcasing a diverse visual effect while extending the natural environment as part of the museum's exhibition space and education. From the multi-faceted visiting mechanisms of the museum, the establishment of the KMFA Library, to the presence of quality restaurants and the development of ecological guided tours, creative markets, and various outdoor activities in recent years, the core spirit is to create an experience of "a day's artistic ecological lifestyle at the museum," realizing the goal of positioning the museum as a platform for artistic living and aesthetic experience. The museum park encompasses the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, the Children's Museum of Art, and the Neiweipi Art Center, forming a cultural hub that integrates ecology, art, and leisure. Amidst the sounds of insects and birds and the shimmering waves, art grows like green sprouts, taking root, flourishing, and thriving under the bright sun of southern Taiwan.
