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From the Altar to Daily Life: The Community and Partnerships of Art Museums - Dialogue between Lai Hsiang-Ling and San Shiung

Lai Hsiang-Ling, Consultant of New Taipei City Art Museum engages in discussions on museum-related topics with experts in each issue. In this edition, she invites San Shiung from the Education and Public Services Department of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to share her observations from the frontline of art education, exploring how art institutions interact with audiences, and how to create a museum that actively participates in people's lives.


Looking back in history, as far back as the 1960s, industry professionals began advocating for museums to reach out to the public. This led to different community relationships and local connections, culminating in the reformist wave of "New Museology" in the 1980s. In this discussion, Lai invites San Shiung to share the accumulated knowledge and methodologies of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum as an experienced institution in the field of art.

Taking "TFAM on the MOVE" and "Monday Museum" as examples, Shiung elaborates on how contemporary art can be made accessible to contemporary audiences. She emphasizes that educational programs should not only present observations to the audience but also aim to foster an understanding of how art can address social issues and future global challenges, encouraging individuals to retain the visionary thinking of artists. Lai also believes that a new type of art museum invites audiences to participate and creates community relationships, which is a changing process. This corresponds to how art museums face different audience orientations, and how event design can adapt to changes, or even grow together with the audience. This is also related to whether art museums can break out of the "white box," expand their services and influence, and seek out different partners while establishing diverse community relationships.