When I arrived in Taichung, Taiwan five years ago, the first out of city trip I did was to a place called Wufeng. It's about 11km outside of the city center and perfect for me to take baby steps to get to know the surroundings for my new home. There were two particular landmarks I was interested to see, a university and a museum. The latter being The Asia Museum of Modern Art.
The Asia Museum of Modern Art
That was back in June 2016, but during that visit I didn't actually enter the museum. In 2019, I went back again, this time to see an exhibition ... more on that in a minute. That's why you'll notice the trees outside the museum looks different from the rest of the following images.
The Asia Museum of Modern Art is designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. It opened in 2013 and is part of Asia University campus across the road. The museum has three floors and its design is unique in that each floor is a triangular shape stacked on top of one another. The exterior is supported by exposed concrete structures, whilst inside, V shaped columns line up each side by the windows to support the internal structure.
The triangular geometry is cleverly extended to the paths outside, you can just about see a V shape path in this image. This is the side of the museum. There's another larger V shape path in the front, I'll show you that in a minute.
The V shape columns by the windows are very impressive when you look at them from a distance, but I think the inside is even more impressive. Especially when they catch the light at the right time of the day, and the elongated shadows fall inside on the ground.
ASIA UNIVERSITY
Remember earlier on, I mentioned the Asia Museum is part of the Asia University? In the above image, you'll see a Baroque-style building outside the window across the road. That's Asia University. Its unique architecture in the town makes it a popular instagram stop.
And here's a view of the University from outside the Asia Museum. I took this image during my first visit in June, hence the pink flowers on the tree. You can see the big V shape path in front of the museum that I mentioned earlier.
STAIRCASE
There's one part of the museum which I think most visitors don't really pay much attention but is really the focal point of the design. I didn't know this and had it not been for the volunteer guides by the door, I would have walk straight past and not given it any thought at all. This is the humble staircase.
Its design is subtly incorporated into the overall triangular geometric design of the whole museum. It doesn't matter from which part of the staircase you look, you can see a triangle in one way or other. It was very fascinating, walking up and down the staircase to look at it from different angles. Luckily the museum wasn't very busy that afternoon, and I was able to take my time and play around with the images.
The cleverest part of the staircase (and I hope I got the facts right as it's been a while) is a design that utilizes external light to create a triangular effect. There's a little opening in the ceiling above the stairs. The guide told me the opening was positioned to allow the light to flush through, but that's not the clever part. Its position means the triangular light effect changes during the day and time of the year, so it's always going to be different whenever you come.
ENCHANTNG ENIGMA EXHIBITION
In October 2019 I came to the Asia Museum again and actually went inside this time (as you've gathered by now). The main purpose of the visit was for an exhibition called Enchanting Enigma, exhibiting works from Yayoi Kusama. You may not be familiar with the name, but you'll probably recognize her work if you see it. This look familiar?
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist, most famous for her polka dots. She uses them to create some of the most amazing pop art and objects, most notably the pumpkin. When I first heard about this exhibition in early 2019, I said I had to come as I've never seen her works in an exhibition before. Guess what? I procrastinated again, and only made it three days before it was due to close!
I'm so glad I made the effort to come as it was so surreal to see so many pieces of Kusama's creations. I also found it rather amusing (can't think of a better word) about the whole exhibition. You'd think the contrast between the polka dots on the artworks, and the triangular geometry at the venue would look odd together, but apparently not so. Great curation here.
After the exhibition, I dropped by the cafe on the ground floor. I deliberately choose the table by the big V shape columns in the corner to surround myself with the maximum triangles. Just joking. It had a great view looking outside, and it was great way to round of my day after the visit.
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hi Pinmapple nice to be part of this projects
Oh nice post and them pictures too. I really love old architecture but the new stuff as well is very impressive, I really like them edges for sure, the V shape is not so normal, but so fascinating. Thanks for sharing, I like your style very much....
Thanks @shoemanchu, personally I think the old architecture has a lot more character, but sometimes the ones are ok as well
Agreed, I enjoy both for sure but old like you said gives so much character.
Loved the stairs and the view of the University from outside. Those pink flowers were maybe plum blossoms?
Not sure, are plum blossoms different from cherry blossoms? I suck at nature. You guys should be getting plenty of cherry blossoms soon. I've never been in Japan at the right season to see that.
😆I’m not “qualified” to answer this question but... yes, they’re different. The first time I saw plum blossoms, I actually thought they were cherry blossoms. Here plum blossoms tend to come out first. Both are really lovely anyway. Yes, sakura should be out soon. I haven’t yet heard the forecast. Like last year, no large gatherings will be allowed. Hoping you’ll get the chance to experience it here some time.
The architecture is wonderful, very modern, and the sculptures are great, you can appreciate a lot of art and culture. What is the university like inside?
I walked around the university during the second visit, the front was quite interesting especially in Asia, but frankly, that was about it 😄
When you get to visit such places, you smell the art around any corner, with every stair climbed, every table, and so on. I love that!! 🥰
That is such a poetic and lovely comment, thanks Gabby!!!
It was all my pleasure. I love art 😍
I am amazed at how you put together this post. The progression of the story just left me wanting to know what comes next and what did follow did not disappoint. The V-shaped Asia Museum of Modern Art is absolutely stunning in its design and concept. Your photos did the place so much justice. (I even think some of them would surely win the Shadow Hunters Contest hands down lol.) And yup, the staircase takes the cake. Nice of you to have taken a photo of yourself contemplating the V-shaped light from the ceiling as if the heavens just opened up and you were about to be taken up. Loved this post so much. Awesome!
There was so much I wanted to do with this post, travel, architecture, art and as you say Shadow Hunters! Had to support travel in the end of course!!
But honestly, I really enjoyed writing this post and looking at it from different angles.
Daily Travel Digest #1120.
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Hiya, @choogirl here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!The architecture is amazing in itself and that exhibition is certainly something worth having a look at!
I'm so glad I made it in the end, nearly missed it, then I wouldn't know when I would have the opportunity again!!!
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Thanks guys!!
The museum has a beautiful architecture, the works of art are very beautiful. Congratulations for this post.
Thanks a lot for your comment and dropping by
Not a fan of the art but I absolutely adore the building! I am a huge fan of steel, concrete and glass in modern architecture. Another to add to the list of places to see one day when we are all able to go-a-wandering again.
Have a great weekend :-)
Pauline, this is such a great post. I am sure we talked about this before but I don't know if I realized that you were in Taichung. For some reason when I thought of you in Taiwan I always thought north. So cool. This is beautiful university and museum. The architecture is great and I will have to keep an eye out for Yayoi Kusama.