Publisher’s Statement
Southern Culture, Tropical Art: The Character of KMFA
“Southern Culture, Tropical Art'' is the slogan KMFA created in cooperation with the Chinese Association of Museums. After KMFA’s first director Huang Tsai-Lang proposed the idea of “local internationalization, international localization'' more than ten years ago, KMFA once again reassesses its position.
KMFA is located at the south of the Tropic of Cancer, the tropical south. It is a known fact. So how is this slogan not simply a reiteration of facts, like claiming “black people have black skin'', “werewolves are human'', or “Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country”?
“Southern Culture, Tropical Art'' may indeed be a sigh in the face of reality. As the advertisement of skin-whitening in the all-year-round sunny tropics, or the construction of skyscrapers with glass curtain walls in the humid and high temperature environment, we stubbornly express our own opinions despite how nature operates.
However, "Southern Culture, Tropical Art" could also be regarded as the pratical pursuit of the future, factually facting the tropical environment, operating fields and systems that adapt to the environment, and sorting out suitable directions for exhibitions, research, collection, and, educative promotional artivities reacting to the environment.
In 2007, KMFA has chosen to put forward the proposition "Southern Culture, Tropical Art" instead of "Armani" from Italy or "Louis Vuitton" fron Paris. KMFA is completely realistic.
Lee Jiunshyan, Director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.