何道明 Douglas Habecker
From our archives, Compass Magazine, July 2000
Douglas Habecker
Although Taichung is well-known around the island for its label of Taiwan’s “culture city”, that moniker has taken a beating in recent years as residents and outsiders have frequently joked that it is anything but cultural.
However, there are reasons to hope that Taichung will once again live up to its reputation. Unexpectedly, one of these reasons stands within meters of the Taichung railroad station and, indeed, is actually part of the station complex. Just a few meters away from arriving and departing trains, behind the Japanese colonial-era terminal, is Warehouse 20.
Until a few months ago, the large decades-old building, containing about 500 pings of space, was an unused Taiwan Railroad Administration warehouse, one of many in the station’s rail yard. Thanks to a new initiative launched by the Cabinet-level Council of Cultural Planning and Development, the warehouse has been handed to an art consulting company for conversion into an attractive new art gallery, complete with attached cafe and artist studio.
Warehouse 20 was officially opened to the public just last month and has already been successful in drawing large numbers of visitors, young and old alike. The building, now completely revamped, makes a perfect venue for the experimental art exhibits that organizers say will frequently occur there. The opening exhibition, appropriately titled “Rebirth”, featured a range of creative, sometimes bizarre, displays by a group of 10 local artists and two artist groups.
“We hope to give this gallery a new, unique image as a place where people can touch and interact with displays. In Taiwan, there are many good “seeds” that need to be watered and allowed to grow up. We hope that Number 20 Warehouse will bring artists and art lovers together,” said Rose Hsu, project manager for L’Orangerie International Art Consultant Company, which is managing the gallery.
The attractive Achilles Cafe, part of the building, is a good place to hang out over a cup of coffee and watch the trains through the long windows. Sketch artists and others are sometimes invited to do demonstrations and drawings at the cafe. At the back of the gallery is a studio, provided to a chosen artist who only pays for utilities.
Part of the overall development is similar renovations to the adjacent warehouses 21 through 26. Warehouse 21 is now a performance studio where Acme Physical Theatre will be performing each vacation weekend Sunday at 2:30 p.m. for the next three months. Numbers 22 through 26 are individual artists’ studios which are often open to the public.
Warehouse 20, free and open to the public, is the first of what is hoped will be similar railroad warehouse make-overs in other cities. Residents and visitors alike will no doubt continue to discover this exciting new Taichung addition which will hopefully help the “cultural city” once again live up to its name.
GETTING THERE: Finding Warehouse 20 is not the easiest task. It is accessed via the alley running up the left side of the Taiwan Motor Transport Bus Company [the “kuo kuang hao” greyhound buses] Taichung South Station on Fuhsing Road, where one catches buses to Kaohsiung and points south. The easiest way to get there is to go to the train station and take the pedestrian underpass under the train tracks and behind the station, bearing left and following the small yellow gallery signs. The gallery is near the underpass exit on the south side of the tracks. The gallery is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and may be contacted at 220-9972.
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