About

Taiwan Visual Art Archive (TVAA) aims to promote Taiwanese art and culture by compiling historical, primary materials of Taiwanese art, collect, research and organize oral histories and release publications, and utilize its online platform to co-learn and cultivate talents in field research and art criticism.

The conception of TVAA draws from the experience of several groups in various stages. In 2011, the online platform Arts Observer Field Archive (https://aofa.tw) was set up to elevate the developmental context of contemporary art in Tainan. Later that year, Ocular Studio was established with the objective of field research, collecting art historical materials, and planning contemporary exhibitions that cross-reference archives and artworks, editing and publishing a series of books.

In view of the trend of “archival turn,” TVAA was launched in April 2020, in the praxis of “research-publication-curation.” Unlike the collections of institutions, TVAA focuses on folk modern and contemporary artworks and its documents, including letters, diaries, drafts, transcripts, collecting and investigating archival materials, and conducting independent research related to the works. We hope to use archives as a method in providing Taiwanese art with a richer, global perspective and localized thinking through engaging in art criticism, research and curating.