Chimera Architecture Salon | Session 4 | Meanings of Modernity: Tradition, China, and Locality

‍Event Content

Modern Life: Taiwan Architecture 1949-1983 explores the issues, events, and cultural factors that shaped the development of Taiwanese architecture from 1949 to 1983, revealing how Taiwan faced new transformations after World War II. From the KMT government’s relocation to Taiwan, through the period of American aid and the lifting of martial law, to the modern era, Taiwan’s lifestyle culture gradually emerged from the shadow of political ideologies and moved toward a modern, free era. This also opened a door to the imagination of “freedom.” While seeking and yearning for modernity, architecture became a window into the postwar cultural shifts in Taiwanese life. The physical presence of architecture also attests to the authenticity of cultural events, making it a tangible cultural form that interacts with these events.

The final lecture in this series, “Regarding Modernity: Tradition, China and Locality,” features a dialogue among two participating artists and a special guest: Yao-Ting Wu, a full-time lecturer in Shih Chien University’s Department of Architecture; Yu-Ping Kuo, an artist; and Julia Huang, a professor of social anthropology.

Through models, photographs, and writings collaboratively created with students in the exhibition space, Wu discusses the development and transformation of Taiwanese architecture from an architectural history perspective. Meanwhile, Kuo’s exhibited work, Delay and Pit, draws inspiration from furniture in her childhood home in Zhongxing New Village. Combining archival materials, drawings, and video, it tells the history and stories of Zhongxing New Village in Nantou. These works bring diverse perspectives to the exhibition, inviting viewers to experience how architecture and living culture become interwoven. As an observer, Huang reflects on the meanings and relationshipsbetween architecture and life from sociological and anthropological viewpoints. Through her insights, the exhibition aims to help audiences gain a more comprehensive understanding of how architecture reflects and influences social culture.