ASIA MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, Taichung, Taiwan: Triangles and Flowers

At Asia University, on the outskirts of Taichung, Taiwan, is the new Asia Museum of Modern Art, a striking steel and concrete building designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Basing his design on an equilateral triangle, every part of the building reflects the triangle shape. During our recent trip to Taiwan, I was treated to a special tour of the museum.

On the lawn outside the glass and steel structure, Rodin’s Thinker greets visitors.

Inside the building, a model of the building's unique design can be seen in the lobby.

Model. The building is formed of three triangular floor plates, stacked as to provide a sheltered external patio at ground floor level, where open-air cafés and other areas of congregation are formed

Throughout the building the geometry is repeated with V-columns supporting the structural steel frame.

Support beams

The museum features rotating temporary exhibits, and at the time of my visit last fall, it was the Language of Flowers, a theme chosen to coordinate with the 2018 World Flora Exposition held in Taichung.

Painting of flowers by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama with her signature polka dots.

The museum's goal is to display works from young Taiwanese artists and other artists from Asia, providing a global stage for contemporary works. For this exhibit, each room of the museum displayed diverse works of art that employ flowers as motifs.

Detail of painting made over a sheet of gold leaf, which can be seen peeking through the foliage

Works on display ranged from paintings and drawings to sculpture and jewelry. 

Hands holding a rose

One whole room was devoted to the glittering jewelry of Taiwanese jewelry artist Aka Chen who “fuses oriental philosophy and crafting technology to eternalize beauty of natural objects with precious stones and breathe life into their presentation.” Flowers and butterflies are among his most popular subjects.

The entry panel to the Aka Chen room is designed to allow visitors to strike a pose and become one of his butterflies.

In another room of the museum, paintings and other objects reflected the bright colors and floral designs of the indigenous cultures of Taiwan.

Woman in traditional dress wearing a floral headdress

The Language of Flowers exhibit was truly a garden of delights. My photos show just a tiny sample of the beautiful and creative pieces that were part of it.
For information about visiting the Asia Museum of Modern Art and other sites in the Taichung area, click HERE.

TASTES OF TAIWAN: From Peking Duck to Dim Sum

Peking Duck, W Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan is a great place for food lovers. You can find local foods everywhere from fancy restaurants to neighborhood cafes to shopping malls and street markets. Although not all menus include English translations for the Chinese names, one can order simply by pointing to a picture or the food itself. During our week in Taiwan our first meal was an elegant Chinese dinner at the W Hotel restaurant, a few blocks from Taipei 101, the skyscraper we had visited earlier in the day. The first course was Peking duck, carved at the table and served with sauces and small pancakes. It was followed by a variety of other delicious dishes, shared with our host and his family. (Our dexterity with chopsticks improved over the course of the week!)

Making pork dumplings (xiao long bao) at Din Tai Fung

Later in our trip our host took us to the food court in a nearby mall for a dim sum meal at the very popular restaurant Din Tai Fung. While we waited for our food to come to the table we watched through a window as an assembly line of cooks produced the thousands of xiao long bao (pork dumplings) in the kitchen–rolling, filling and pinching the dough before putting the bao into bamboo steaming baskets.

Cooked pork dumplings (xiao long bao) in bamboo steamer basket

A short time later the finished dumplings arrived at our table cooked to perfection. I have eaten pork dumplings before, but they have never tasted more fresh or more delicious than these. (You don't have to travel to Taiwan to dine at Din Tai Fung--they have numerous restaurants in the USA and internationally.)

Boba tea served in a light bulb shaped bottle

Our host insisted that we not leave Taiwan without tasting boba tea, a popular drink found both at street markets and at stands in the shopping mall. Boba tea (also called pearl tea, or bubble tea) is a sweet drink that combines milk, flavored tea and tapioca pearls that are sucked up through an extra large straw and chewed. The boba drink pearls have a soft, chewy consistency similar to that of gummy candy. (“Boba” is a Taiwanese slang term meaning “pearl”.) We found it quite tasty!

Yixing clay teapot, Palace Museum, Taipei

And, of course, tea came with almost every meal. We saw no end of beautiful teapots displayed at museums and for sale in stores, often made with Yixing clay. Teapots in this traditional style originated in China, dating back to the 15th century, and are made from clay produced near Yixing in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. We also saw many varieties of Taiwanese tea for sale in the shops. When we were in the mountains at Sun Moon Lake we took a walk through a tea plantation.

Sashimi at Dozo Restaurant, Taipei

Many foods in Taiwan reflect the influence of Japanese culture. (Taiwan has had a complicated political history, including being under the control of Japan for the first half of the 20th Century.) One evening we ate at a Japanese restaurant called Dozo, sitting at the counter where we watched the sushi chefs assemble artistic constructions of raw fish.

Fresh fruit for breakfast

Our days always started with the breakfast buffet at our hotel, which included traditional Chinese savory porridge, rice, noodles and other typical Asian foods, as well as typical Western breakfast items such as cereal, bacon and eggs. My favorites were the fresh fruits--watermelon, grapefruit, oranges, papaya, star fruit and more. Taiwan has a semi-tropical climate and a variety of delicious fresh fruits were always available.

Sausage vendor at the Shilin Night Market, Taipei

For a quick snack, one can always stop in at one of the ubiquitous Seven Eleven minimarts or at neighborhood bakery or coffee shop. One evening, at the Shilin Night Market, we wandered through the rabbit-warren of shop-lined streets and watched cooks prepare their wares. Although we didn’t sample any of the street food, we saw long lines of people waiting to purchase everything from grilled meat, boba tea, filled buns, fruit and much more.

Handcrafted Taiwanese beer with evocative English names

On one of our last evenings we had the chance to sample Taiwanese craft beer in the bar on the top floor of the National Taichung Theater. With our host, who had treated us royally during the week of our visit, we looked out over the sparkling night lights of the city. It was a relaxing end to a busy and stimulating week in Taiwan.