歷經四十載風華的北美館，始終在臺灣當代藝術發展的前沿致力於開拓多元未來的可能性。在全臺南北新美術館紛紛成立的當下，本期專題「來徑與遠景——北美館進行式」邀請資深館員結合實務經驗與第一線觀察，檢視本館在歷史與未來交織中的發展動態與挑戰。首先，聚焦行政法人化的變革浪潮，探討其可能為機構運作與治理帶來的影響；接續關注「臺北藝術園區擴建案」的未來藍圖，透視新館在實體與功能層面的擴延及其願景。教育與公眾服務亦至為關鍵，透過回顧與再思考，提出更多樣與包容的觀眾參與方針。此外，典藏庫房擴建的籌備，肩負龐雜的前置規劃，期許北美館典藏與保存專業的前行。專題尾聲溯回北美館展覽史的第一個十年，結合2023年甫建置完成的「1983-1994展覽資料庫」，梳理早期競賽展「新展望」與「北市美展」，為館史文獻的研究與脈絡建構奠基。
本期文獻研究室考掘美新處（美國新聞處／美國文化中心）在臺灣當代視覺藝術發展中的重要角色。該場域既是新銳藝術家的初登舞台，也見證了美援時期歐美藝術思潮的傳輸，對當代藝術創作的實驗性和多樣性有深遠影響。本次專題審視1972年至1991年間開放展覽申請的歷程，透過訪談當年參與展覽評審的何政廣先生、美新處文化組的吳毓奇先生，以及首展或早期重要個展於美新處並延續至北美館的藝術家，探尋美新處的轉變，及其如何為青年創作者提供發聲的契機。
由館內策劃的年度壓軸展覽「喧囂的孤獨：臺灣膠彩百年尋道」，細述膠彩畫在定名與定位上的擺盪、傳承與發展的絲縷，呈現其在臺灣落地的多樣風貌。本期特別企劃「膠彩當代」以林之助《冬日》開啟扉頁，透過後輩參展藝術家的訪談，一探膠彩創作的當代實踐。林之助於1985年受蔣勳之邀於東海大學設立膠彩畫課程，為臺灣高等教育膠彩畫教學的開端，其第一屆學生李貞慧，畢業後赴日本深造並返校任教，延續膠彩學門的拓展；李的學生陳誼嘉亦沿此傳承之路，持續推動膠彩藝術進程。本期特邀李貞慧與陳誼嘉師生，共同分享其創作與教學歷程。此外，專訪1980年後出生的年輕世代藝術家曾建穎、葉仁焜與蘇煌盛，從個人的創作出發，探索從學院的水墨學習轉進膠彩創作的思維與實踐，為臺灣膠彩藝術續寫新頁。
展覽觀點聚焦典藏展「飛地：一部自傳的誕生」，呼應展覽欲意探索的女性創作者內在情狀，王品驊以女性肖像與群像作為象徵，結合藝術心理學的視角，剖析女性藝術家創作意識與其所處社會及時代的深層關聯；此外，臺灣文學研究者翁智琦為此展「書房計畫」筆記見解，解析郭俞平小說《珍藏盒》的時代背景與文學意涵，為理解展覽提供不同層面的詮釋與思考。
Lying in its 40-year splendor, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) has been striving all along to open up the possibilities of a pluralistic future at the forefront of Taiwan's contemporary art development. Given that new art museums have mushroomed all over Taiwan, this issue addresses the topic "From Past to Prospect: TFAM in Progress" by inviting our senior staff to use their practical experience and frontline observation to examine TFAM's evolutionary dynamics and the challenges rising to it at the intersection of past and future. The "Topic" in this issue firstly brings the wave of administrative corporatization into focus and explores its potential impacts on institutional operation and governance, followed by the attention to the blueprint for the "TFAM Expansion" that reveals a panorama of the physical and functional expansions of the new building and its prospects. Education and public service are crucial dimensions as well. Through retrospection and reflection, the "Topic" also advocates a diverse array of inclusive approaches to visitor engagement. Moreover, the preparatory work for the new collections vault entails enormously complex arrangements to accelerate the progression of TFAM's expertise in collection and conservation. The coda to the "Topic" looks back upon the first decade of TFAM's exhibition history. It collates TFAM's early competition exhibitions, i.e. "Contemporary Art Trends" and "Taipei Annual Arts Competition," by reference to the "TFAM Exhibition Archive 1983-1994" that was just built in 2023, laying a solid foundation for the research into TFAM's historical documents and their contextual construction.
The "Archival Research" in this issue elucidates the substantial role of the United States Information Service (USIS) in the development of contemporary visual arts in Taiwan. The USIS not only served as a major venue for emerging artists to make their debuts, but also bore testimony to the introduction of occidental artistic thoughts during the U.S. Aid to Taiwan, which had a profound and enduring influence on the orientation of contemporary art creation toward experimentality and diversity. The "Archival Research" also examines the USIS open-application exhibitions in Taipei from 1972 to 1991 and comprises interviews with Ho Cheng-Kuang who was on the exhibition jury at that time, Wu Yu-Chi from the Cultural Section of the USIS, and artists who held their first or early important solo exhibitions at the USIS and continued to exhibit at the TFAM, intending to delve into the transformation of the USIS and the way it gave visibility to young creators.
Too Loud a Solitude: A Century of Pathfinding for Eastern Gouache Painting in Taiwan, the highlight exhibition of 2024 curated by the TFAM, elaborates on the fluctuations in the naming and positioning of Eastern gouache and unravels the strands of its inheritance and development, in which the establishment of this art form in Taiwan and its manifold styles find expression. Revolving around the theme "Contemporary Eastern Gouache" and starting with Lin Chih-Chu's work Winter, the "Feature" in this issue investigates the praxis of contemporary Eastern gouache through interviews with the younger-generation artists participating in the exhibition. At Chiang Hsun's invitation in 1985, Lin taught a course on Eastern gouache at Tunghai University, marking the dawn of Eastern gouache teaching in Taiwan's higher education system. Lee Chen-Huei, one of the first batch of Lin's students, pursued advanced training in Japan after graduation and returned to teach at her alma mater where she carries forward this discipline. Lee's student, Chen Yi-Chia, perpetuates this tradition and continues to promote the development of Eastern gouache. Hence, the "Feature" specifically invites Lee and Chen to share their first-hand experience in creation and teaching. The "Feature" also contains interviews with young artists Tseng Chien-Ying, Yeh Jen-Kun, and Su Huang-Sheng. All of them were born in the 1980s. Treating their respective creations as the point of departure, these artists experimentally make a transition of their thinking and praxis from ink wash painting of academism to gouache creation, which opens a new chapter for Eastern gouache in Taiwan.
The "Exhibition Focus" in this issue gives prominence to Enclave: An Autobiography, an exhibition on female artists' works in the TFAM Collections. Echoing the female artists' inner conditions that the exhibition seeks to trace, Pin-Hua Wang treats women's portraits as symbols and employs the psychology of art to probe for the deep connections between the creative consciousness of female artists and the social milieu in which they live. Besides, Taiwanese literary scholar Chih-Chi Weng wrote a commentary on the "Project Reading Room" of the exhibition. The commentary analyzes the historical context and literary significance of Kuo Yu Ping's novella Treasure Chest, providing alternative interpretation and thinking for us to understand the exhibition.
