We ART Always Together: Celebrating a Decade of Breathing with the City
A Theatre Shaped by Collective Encounters
As the National Taichung Theater (NTT) marks its 10th anniversary, it celebrates not only a milestone but also a decade of encounters among architecture, art, audiences, and the city. To commemorate this journey, the NTT presents We ART Always Together, a multi-sensory retrospective exhibition that reflects on the past while envisioning its future.
Since opening in 2016, the NTT has embodied architect Toyo Ito’s vision of a cultural space that transcends conventional boundaries. Over the past 10 years, artists, audiences, volunteers, staff members, and community partners have all contributed to shaping the NTT into a vibrant cultural platform rooted in participation and exchange.
NTT 10th Anniversary Exhibition: We ART Always Together (Photo credit: National Taichung Theater.)
The Breathing of Space
Centered on the concept of The Breathing of Space, the exhibition explores how people and place continuously influence one another. Inspired by the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, it invites visitors to experience the theatre not only through sight, but also through sound, touch, movement, and memory. The exhibition reflects the NTT’s belief that performance is not confined to the stage but can emerge throughout the entire building, transforming architecture into a shared sensory experience.
Time Gallery: Where Art Meets Sustainability (Photographer: SU Ta-wei)
Time Gallery: Where Art Meets Sustainability
The first exhibition area, Time Gallery: Where Art Meets Sustainability, traces the NTT’s development through photographs, archival materials, and immersive installations. More than a historical review, it reveals how the theatre has evolved through artistic practice, audience engagement, and social responsibility.
Visitors are invited to experience the theatre from multiple perspectives: listening to its daily soundscape, stepping onto the podium as an orchestra conductor, or discovering fluorescent stage markings that guide performers and crew backstage.
Accessibility is also central to this section, where tactile models and multi-sensory installations encourage visitors to engage with the exhibition through diverse forms of perception. Reclaimed stage flooring from the Grand Theater further reflects the NTT’s commitment to sustainability by extending the life cycle of materials that once supported countless performances.
Visitors explore the NTT through an interactive tactile architectural model (Photo credit: National Taichung Theater) (Photographer: Mon LEE)
Crew: The Crew Around the Corner?
Along the Playhouse staircase, the second section, The Crew Around the Corner? invites visitors to step behind the scenes of theatrical production. Centered around a stage manager’s workstation—the operational hub of a performance—the installation offers a glimpse into the coordination and teamwork that keeps a theatre running.
Through video projections, monitoring screens, and backstage signals, visitors temporarily shift from audience to stage managers, experiencing the rhythm of a live production from a new perspective. By highlighting the often-unseen work behind every performance, the installation reminds visitors that a theatre is shaped not only by artists and audiences, but also by the many professionals whose efforts make each encounter possible.
Together with Art: Theatre Stories to Be Continued
Located in the Interlude Passage, the third section focuses on collective memory and audience participation. Through public submissions and interactive installations, visitors contribute photographs, stories, and personal reflections connected to the theatre.
Beginning with memories of past encounters and gradually shifting toward visions of the future, this evolving exhibition highlights the NTT as an ongoing cultural project shaped by its community. By inviting audiences to imagine their own “ideal theatre,” the exhibition demonstrates how cultural spaces continue to grow through public imagination and participation.
A Decade of Dreams: History as Conveyed by Curved Walls
The final section returns to the origins of the theatre itself. Through original design documents, architectural models, engineering records, and historical images, visitors discover how one of the world’s most ambitious contemporary cultural buildings came into being.
The exhibition highlights the collaborative efforts of architects, engineers, and builders who transformed Toyo Ito’s concept into reality. The iconic curved walls are presented not only as an engineering achievement but also as a testament to collective craftsmanship, innovation, and belief. More than the story of a building, it is the story of how architectural imagination became a living cultural landmark for the city.
Looking Toward the Next Decade
For General and Artistic Director Lee Huey-mei, the exhibition offers an opportunity to reflect on the NTT as a living organism that resonates with the city. Looking back on the theatre’s first decade, she sees the retrospective not merely as a celebration of achievements but as a recognition of the countless encounters that have shaped the institution.
As the theatre enters its next decade, Lee envisions a future built upon artistic innovation, accessibility, sustainability, and international exchange while remaining deeply connected to local communities. Through the exhibition We ART Always Together, she hopes visitors will not only revisit memories of the past 10 years but also recognise their own role in shaping what comes next.
ime Gallery: Where Art Meets Sustainability (Photographer: SU Ta-wei)
A Prelude to the Future
Ultimately, We ART Always Together reminds us that a theatre is far more than a venue. It is a place where architecture breathes with human presence, where memories accumulate through shared experiences, and where art continually creates new possibilities for connection. Standing at the threshold of its next decade, NTT invites audiences to join in writing the next chapter of this collective story.