Children's Art Education Center Introduction
The Children's Art Education Center, which took five years to prepare, was officially opened to the public on Children's Day in 2014, with sponsorship from the TSMC Cultural and Educational Foundation and funding from the Taipei City Government. Under the efforts of the museum staff and the architectural design team, the center launched its inaugural exhibition "Gifts," expressing its positioning as a gift to future generations. The visual signage is designed with geometric blocks stacked like building blocks, inspired by the tubular structure of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum; the window symbol signifies children’s small curiosities driving them to peek at the sky from the corner of a window, encouraging them to explore a broader world. The Children's Art Center builds upon the existing spatial conditions, transforming the edges of the space into the core of its operations, while gradually integrating contemporary art education thinking. In addition to affirming learning as an essential core value, starting in 2015, it seeks to expand the definition of educational learning, that is, to create new methods of knowledge production and museum experiences. Traditional museums, which focus on the "object" as the subject of collection and exhibition functions, are gradually transitioning to a people-centered approach. The museum not only houses a rich collection of art but also serves as a friendly space for audiences to relax, socialize, and experience art in everyday life. It emphasizes participatory experiences, hoping that the audience will learn through interactions and discussions with peers, sparking diverse possibilities of visiting experiences and developing a new relationship between the museum and the audience. Contemporary art encompasses a vast array of interdisciplinary knowledge and emphasizes critical thinking and social engagement. In 2016, the educational planning at the Children's Art Center officially transformed from an exhibition concept into "Educational Programs," launching one to two programs annually, which combine thematic displays and creative workshops, planned collaboratively by in-house educators and contemporary artists. In these "Educational Programs," the staff not only serve as intermediaries for interpreting artworks but also as experience transformers; the role of artists transitions from being passive creators of works to active constructors of learning experiences. On one hand, the educational programs at the Children's Art Center model artists, allowing children to recognize the diverse world through artists' perspectives, creative thinking, and problem-solving methods. On the other hand, we also invite artists to collaborate with staff to discuss the development of interactive installations for each educational program, transforming experiences from their works or those of other artists into learnable models, guiding the audience from passive visual appreciation to active participation at the bodily and sensory level. Through participation in educational programs, audiences will become active explorers discovering the world, accumulating visual literacy and conceptual thinking skills. (Source: Children's Art Education Center)
