Kaohsiung’s world-class performance venue remains true to its grassroots origins.
Last June 20 dance students from Tsoying Senior High School joined the ranks of performers to have graced the world’s largest performing arts venue under one roof, Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts. There, along with 15 professional dancers also based in the southern Taiwan city, they concluded a two-month tour of “Bolero in Kaohsiung,” adapted from “[1875] Ravel and Bolero” choreographed by the center’s artist-in-residence Chou Shu-yi (周書毅) 16 years ago. The award-winning piece was inspired by French composer Maurice Ravel’s best-known work and has been staged at domestic and international events such as the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center in the U.S. This year’s revival production wrapped up at the center’s Banyan Plaza after showing at a range of venues including the city’s main station, libraries, museums, temples, scenic spots and school campuses.
“Bolero in Kaohsiung,” choreographed by Weiwuying’s artist-in-residence Chou Shu-yi, is performed in May at Old Railway Bridge Wetlands Ecological Park in the city’s Dashu District. (Courtesy of Weiwuying)
The expansive outdoor grounds where “Bolero in Kaohsiung” ended its recent run draw spectators’ eyes to the massive 3.3-hectare building at the heart of the 9.9-hectare complex. Topped with a gracefully swooping roof designed by Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo to resemble the sweeping canopies of lush banyan groves common to the area, the center houses a 2,236-seat opera house, 1,981-seat concert hall, 1,210-seat playhouse, 434-seat recital hall and an outdoor theater formed where the roof dips down to meet the ground in a concave semicircle. It sits adjacent to a 47-hectare metropolitan park, the largest of its kind in the country, and is called Weiwuying after its location on the site of a former military base.
Opened in October 2018, Weiwuying operates under the Taipei City-based National Performing Arts Center (NPAC), which also administers the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH)—where NPAC is headquartered—and National Taichung Theater in the central Taiwan City, as well as the affiliated National Symphony Orchestra. Within months of opening its doors, it had already hosted globally renowned companies such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, joining NTCH as a world-class performing arts center.
According to Weiwuying General and Artistic Director Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬), the contoured shape of the building is the result of technical cooperation with local shipbuilders in Kaohsiung, home to Taiwan’s largest harbor. The unique design won numerous prizes including those from U.S.-based New York Design Awards in 2018, Architizer A+Awards in 2019 and International Architecture Awards in 2020. It was also named one of the “World’s 100 Greatest Places” by Time magazine in 2019.
Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma” is staged at Weiwuying in January. (Courtesy of Weiwuying)
Grassroots Origin
Weiwuying’s grandeur is all the more impressive given that the performing arts center was almost never built. The government originally slated the site for commercial and residential development until a local civil group launched a campaign demanding the land be used for the betterment of the community. During the early 1990s, the group’s call was joined by other organizations like Takao Green Association (TGA), as well as associations of locally based professionals such as architects, artists, doctors, lawyers and writers. The successful movement was part of broader social liberalization efforts across the country after decades of martial law ended in 1987. While many other public institutions were set up following decisions by high-ranking policymakers, Weiwuying is unique in its grassroots origin, Chien said.
TGA Chair Tseng Tse-fong (曾梓峰) lauds the process as a model for public input on major construction projects. A leading figure in the Architecture Reform Forum, Tseng heads the Center for Smart City Development at National University of Kaohsiung. The academic spoke glowingly of the integration of public multipurpose areas into Weiwuying’s design. He cited Banyan Plaza, a wide span of roofed open space extending across the main building’s ground floor, as an example. It hosts a variety of informal activities and features a piano that any visitor can use. “Anyone can be transformed into a pianist the moment they sit down to play,” Chien explained. “Easy access to the musical instrument is intended to narrow the gap between the public and fine arts.”
Serving All
In another move to boost accessibility, Weiwuying installed an artificial intelligence-assisted system earlier this year to enhance interactive guided tour services with technological support from Taipei-based Taiwan AI Labs, a privately funded research organization founded in 2017. In addition to arts promotion projects targeted at children, parents, teachers and students, tailor-made programs are designed for individuals with visual and hearing impairments enabling them to attend workshops and enjoy performances. “Our guiding principle is to ensure equal rights to artistic and cultural resources,” Chien said.
Weiwuying’s Banyan Plaza features a piano available for any visitor to use. (Courtesy of Weiwuying)
When the government’s renewed curricular guidelines for the 12-year basic education program took effect in 2019, Weiwuying launched its Theater Arts Experiential Education Project to help meet the growing demand for interdisciplinary learning. As of June, more than 2,000 students from local primary and secondary schools had participated in the courses. “Through exchanges and discussions with artists and teachers, students come to understand artwork not simply as creative pieces but also in the greater context of social, historical and personal experiences,” Chien said.
The facility also provides a venue for large-scale cultural events, such as the 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival, which took place at several locations throughout Kaohsiung last February. First staged in 1990, the festival is organized each year by the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in collaboration with the host city or county government as part of Lunar New Year celebrations. The latest edition saw spectacular light shows projecting images of local history and ethnic cultures onto the walls of the center, which Chien described as a “lantern in its own right.” These were supplemented by live pop and classical music, among other performances. In total the spectacle attracted an estimated over one million visits to Weiwuying and its surrounding park area during the monthlong festival, Chien added.
Local elementary school students join Weiwuying’s Theater Arts Experiential Education Project designed to promote interdisciplinary learning. (Courtesy of Weiwuying)
The artistic director is pleased to see Weiwuying serve as a catalyst for public interest in the performing arts and feels it places Kaohsiung on an equal footing with Taipei and Taichung. He looks forward to many more world-class musical and theatrical groups enthralling audiences in Kaohsiung while elevating the city’s profile on the global stage. From an urban regeneration perspective, Tseng views Weiwuying as part of a series of dynamic public spaces that play a crucial role in the city government’s regional development project, with the facility acting as a hub integrating arts, recreation and tourism. As Kaohsiung grows beyond its port identity, the arts center has added another cosmopolitan touch to the cityscape. “It’ll continue to act as a major cultural force leading the metropolis into the future,” Tseng said.
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw