Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Introduction
The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (commonly known as Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum) was established in 1994 and is located in the Weipi Cultural Park in the northwest metropolitan area of Kaohsiung City, within the region formerly known as the Neiwei Wetlands. The northern part of the area is surrounded by Guishan and Banping Mountains, while the Shoushan Mountain runs north-south on the west side, converging with the Love River that flows through the vicinity, creating a scenic landscape embraced by mountains and water. In 2017, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts was restructured under the Administrative Corporation of Kaohsiung's Professional Cultural Institutions, continuing to deepen local culture, collecting works by Taiwanese artists, and annually fostering emerging artists through events like the "Kaohsiung Award" and "KS Kaohsiung Experimental Site." In addition to curating thematic exhibitions and artist research exhibitions, it is also dedicated to collaborating with world-class museums to bring in various large international exhibitions, offering the public a wider and more diverse selection of contemporary art. In recent years, the museum has actively developed online interactive resources, such as a 360-degree panoramic exhibition space, online interactive guided tours, an online art database (including visual image database, contemporary memory project of Austronesia, readings from the library of the Hundred Nights of Silent Reading, etc.), and a YouTube channel that is updated irregularly with exhibitions, making the museum not only a place for cultural and artistic visits but also a platform for knowledge sharing. The main building of the museum is a four-story above-ground and two-story underground structure. The first floor features international special exhibitions and a high-ceiling gallery for contemporary art, the second floor is dedicated to thematic curation or artist research exhibitions, the third floor houses the Southern Multicultural Historical Collection Room, and the fourth floor serves as a contemporary experimental art exhibition space. The underground area includes a lecture hall with 352 seats and art resource classrooms for group art education, as well as an art research room housing over 46,000 art books and materials available for free reading and research by the public. In 2005, the “Visitor Service Center” located on the west side of the park was transformed into a Children's Art Museum, making it the first public museum in Taiwan specially designed for children. It consists of a three-story main building and an outdoor landscaped garden, creating an ecological space that integrates culture, art, education, recreation, and play. Unlike school-based arts and humanities education, the Children's Art Museum integrates museum education with children’s art education, combining interactive exhibitions and art education promotion activities to provide rich, fun, and lively educational display designs through thematic planning. This allows children to learn about art through games, creation, exploration, observation, experience, and imagination. In recent years, the Children's Art Museum has combined the landscape ecology of the Weipi Cultural Park and the resources of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, focusing on deepening children's art education and promoting art in education while integrating community and school resources to advance towards the goals of "ecology, environment, culture, and art." Surrounded by lush trees, the sandbox in front serves as a shared play area for parents and children. The museum area, covering 43 hectares, features over 40 art sculptures and public artworks distributed among the park, lake, forest, and grasslands, showcasing diverse visual effects and extending the natural environment as part of the museum’s exhibition space and education. With the museum's varied visitation mechanisms, the establishment of the Kaohsiung Bookstore, the entry of quality restaurants into the park, and the recent development of ecological guided courses, cultural markets, and various outdoor activities, the core spirit is to create an experience of "a one-day art ecological living space at the museum," realizing the goal of using the museum as a platform for artistic living and aesthetic experiences. The museum area encompasses three cultural buildings: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Children's Art Museum, and Weipi Art Center, forming a cultural hub that combines ecology, art, and leisure, where art flourishes like vibrant green sprouts under the bright sun of southern Taiwan amidst the sounds of birds and the shimmering water.
