EATS Young Scholar Awards – Freda Fiala

Taiwan’s Cultural Institutions and the Making of Regional Ties

While cultural diplomacy and Taiwan’s soft power strategies have been the subject of rigorous inquiry, international scholarship has so far paid little sustained attention to cultural infrastructure itself. Drawing on my period of study in Taipei, during which I was invited to publish with and collaborate on projects with some of Taiwan’s leading cultural institutions, my doctoral research engaged with precisely this area, focusing on the cultural and curatorial politics of the newly constructed Taipei Performing Arts Center (臺北表演藝術中心, TPAC).

TPAC stands as a crucial institution among the new constellations of Taiwan’s cultural landscape. Alongside the National Taichung Theater (國家歌劇院, NTT) and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (衛武營國家藝術文化中心, Weiwuying) in Kaohsiung, three landmark performing arts centres have opened their doors in recent years. However, unlike the others, TPAC operates as a municipal institution under the Taipei City Government and sits outside the umbrella of the National Performing Arts Center (國家兩廳院, NPAC), which commands nearly a quarter of the Ministry of Culture’s annual budget. Despite their differing governance structures, all these institutions should be viewed as part of Taiwan’s strategic efforts to integrate with international tourism, circulate artistic productions and personnel, and participate more actively in Indo-Pacific cultural flows. At the same time, they are seeking dialogue with “Western”—mainly European—artistic networks and institutions.

Against this backdrop, the ADAM project (short for Asia Discovers Asia: Meeting for Contemporary Performance, 亞當計畫—亞洲當代表演網絡集會) emerged as a particularly significant initiative. Conceptualized as an international artist residency and networking platform, the project was initiated by River Lin (林人中) and organized by TPAC annually from 2017 to 2024. As a platform, it played a key role in reimagining the role of experimental artistic practices and creating new spaces for connection among a young generation of local and regional artists.

Emerging alongside the institutional evolution of TPAC, ADAM distinguished itself through its interdisciplinary focus and artist-led collaborative vision, marking a significant departure from earlier performance initiatives in Taiwan. Across multiple editions, ADAM became a crucial site for re-centering Indigenous knowledges through an ecological lens. Its “artist-curated field trip” model addressed Taiwan’s complex issues of land ownership, extractive histories, and disputed sovereignty. This approach highlights that a profound understanding of Taiwan is inextricably linked to its Indigenous heritage and the ongoing processes of cultural endurance. Simultaneously, ADAM’s deliberate pivot towards Austronesian and Southeast Asian perspectives expanded Taiwan’s artistic constellations, positioning the island in relation to the Indo-Pacific region. This orientation also compelled the local performing arts sector to critically interrogate its historically Eurocentric predispositions—a legacy that has long privileged a Europe–Asia axis, particularly embodied in institutions such as the National Theater and Concert Hall (國家戲劇院, NTCH).

Positioning Taiwan within a cultural production landscape that is still largely dominated by Western institutions could be interpreted as part of a broader decolonization and democratization strategy. Since 2016, under the leadership of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Taiwan has increasingly presented itself as a multicultural society. Its cultural policy has formally revolved around two strategic axes: promoting Indigenous cultures and strengthening cultural and economic relations with Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Australasia through the New Southbound Policy (新南向政策). In contemporary curatorial discourse, the emphasis on inclusive “hosting politics” towards Indigenous artists across the Austronesian world thus aligns strongly with official narratives in policy documents. The 2018 Culture White Paper (文化白皮書) articulates this ambition, stating: “Emphasis [in informal cultural diplomacy] will also be placed on integration with the New Southbound Policy and fashioning Taiwan into a world platform for Austronesian cultural research and preservation” (Ministry of Culture, 2018). Such pronouncements reflect Taiwan’s democratic political environment and its robust public funding system, which together provide fertile ground for the arts to transcend borders and reshape regional cultural dynamics.

Ultimately, approaching artistic politics through the lens of cultural policy—as the example of ADAM vividly illustrates—remains a deeply ambivalent endeavor. There is an ever-present tension between the autonomy of artistic expression and the collective imperatives inherent in cultural discourse. In the case of Taiwan, the possibility of debating these intertwined realms speaks to the particular condition of a young democracy that is still engaged in the delicate process of shaping and reshaping its own identity.

My ongoing research thus aims to contribute to a broader understanding of how cultural infrastructures intersect with Taiwan’s evolving cultural landscape and its position within the region. This work would not have been possible without the unwavering support of individuals within Taiwan’s arts sector. Seeking to cultivate further reciprocal relationships, I also established a collaboration between the Yingge Ceramics Museum (新北市立鶯歌陶瓷博物館) and the Academy of Ceramics Gmunden at Gmundner Keramik Manufaktur in 2023. This partnership created the first museum-supported residency programme between Taiwan and Austria, providing two artists each year with the opportunity to spend three months working in both Gmunden and Yingge.

As my academic writing and commitment evolve, I am particularly grateful for the insights, questions, and collegial generosity that I have encountered through the European Association of Taiwan Studies. The dialogues and collaborations fostered within this community continue to deepen my thinking and broaden the horizons of my work.