Celebrating curation excellence
Reflections on visiting the National Taiwan Museum
In the centre of the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Pacific exhibit stands a backlit crystal map1 showing a great expanse of blue ocean with a scattering of tiny islands. I recall visiting with my stepfather as a young man. “You know,” my companion remarked, “if you and I were to try to sail without GPS from there to there (gesturing at two seemingly nearby Tongan islands), we'd probably be lost at sea”.
New Zealanders learn about Pacific migrations in school, but the enormity of those accomplishments only truly struck me then. Weeks at sea hoping to discover some new and bountiful land, later followed by routine voyages over thousands of miles, including trade with the Americas! Each of the surrounding artifacts were then no idle curiousities, but clues to newly sparked questions like: Who were these peoples? How did they live, and achieve what they did?
‘Modern’ museum exhibits all too often seem to be designed not as a surrogate for school lessons - full of dreary prose and interactive exhibits that date as quickly as the hamfisted perspectives of the times. Timeless curations speak for themselves, providing just enough context for the viewer to understand and come to their own conclusions.
I’m pleased to report that in the ancestral homeland of the Pacific peoples, the National Taiwan Museum lives up to this standard par excellence.
The institution is often overshadowed by the famous and similarly named2 'National Palace Museum', which houses what is perhaps the world's largest collection of masterpieces. With twice the collection size of the Louvre, and preserving the very best works from thousands of years of Chinese history, few institutions are so blessed. Unfortunately, ‘simply fill your displays with a selection of the most intricate and beautiful objects ever made’ is advice few curators can follow. Besides which, the National Museum serves a very different purpose as a place of learning about the cultural and natural history of the island.
The museum strikes an perfect balance between story-telling and interactive displays engaging for a younger audience, while, in the main, letting the masses of immaculately displayed objects do the heavy lifting.
The Japanese colonial-era building itself tells a tale. Constructed as a grand monument of imperial power and to Japanese victory over the Russians in 1905, the grand neoclassical columnades, originally designed to dominate one’s view on approach down the avenue towards the building, have since been softened by the planting of now tall and lush trees that shade both the building and the throngs of young school children patiently waiting to enter.
Inside is surprising quiet, owing to a combination of soundproofing and restraint/discipline on the part of the schoolkids. The use of lighting is perfect and the interior design elegant, providing an ideal environment for visitors to learn and explore.
The highlights were the two masterfully directed short films displayed at each end of the building, one an ethnographic study of the people of Taiwan, another a study of its natural landscapes. The cinematography is excellent, the vignettes of daily life in the cities and on the mountain peaks fascinating.
I’ve searched throughout their website and extensive Youtube channel for copies, but clearly they’re intended to be seen in full HD within the museum. They’re worth paying a visit to the museum for alone, but their true value is in helping contextualise what surrounds them.
I recently relented to Substack’s suggestion to enable paying subscriptions, just in case any of you would like to buy me a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, I didn’t initially update the default subscription text, perhaps leading some to believe I was paywalling some content. It’s now updated, and should make it clear that everything on this blog is free and open to all.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Looking at the space again, I’m doubly impressed at the restraint in not making this map fill an entire wall, as in retrospect I think the human-scale of the existing piece better helps facilitate the sorts of quiet contemplative conversation I’m talking about. My only mild criticism is that the map should be perhaps 15% larger, to better fill the space available without taking away any display space.
I would if the National Palace Museum would be more aptly called the ‘National Palace Gallery’, which would also help differentiate it from the ‘National Taiwan Museum’. Obviously it’s far too late to change now, especially given international recognition (particularly to the Japanese, for whom the NPM is a major tourist attraction).