The ROC Ministry of Culture plans to establish an art bank to purchase and lease out works by emerging Taiwan artists for display in embassies, representative offices and corporate headquarters abroad, MOC Minister Lung Ying-tai said Nov. 8.
“We have budgeted NT$70 million (US$2.4 million) for the project, which will get under way Jan. 1 if approved by the Legislature,” Lung said.
“In this way the MOC will help bring the great reservoir of creativity in Taiwan to the world’s attention.”
The minister’s remarks came at a news conference for the Art Taipei 2012 exposition.
The art bank is a commercial means of increasing exposure by taking visual artworks into the meeting rooms and hallways of everyday life, she noted. “This distinguishes it from the Young Artist Collection Program under the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, which is an investment in art dedicated to building up a repository of art resources and cultural assets for the nation.
“Moreover, from an aesthetic viewpoint it is important that the pieces on display around the world will be originals, not reproductions.”
Countries such as Australia, Canada and the U.S. have used their ambassadors’ residences to exhibit local art, further introducing their cultures overseas, Lung said. This was the inspiration for the art bank concept, she added.
Art Taipei 2012 runs Nov. 9-12 at the Taipei World Trade Center, with more than 3,000 works on show from 150 galleries in 15 countries. Highlights include photography by Diane Arbus, Yayoi Kusama and Hiroshi Sugimoto, as well as Pablo Picasso’s 1956 painting, “Man and Woman on the Beach.” (THN)