Yingge Ceramics Museum: A Century of Kiln Heritage in Fair-Faced Concrete

30-Second Overview: On November 26, 2000, the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum opened its doors, becoming Taiwan's first ceramics-specialized museum. Designed by architect Chien Hsueh-yi, the building takes "earth, water, fire, and wind" as its design philosophy, with a fair-faced concrete façade and expansive glass curtain walls blending into the Yingge landscape. It repositioned Yingge—once known as the "Jingdezhen of Taiwan" for its wholesale kiln industry—into a ceramics hall anchored in curation, education, and international exchange. The "Taiwan International Biennial of Ceramics," launched in 2004, connected local craft to the global contemporary ceramics discourse.

In the late 1990s, Yingge's traditional kiln industry was under pressure to shift from contract manufacturing to cultural creativity. On November 26, 2000, Taiwan's first ceramics-specialized museum—the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum—officially opened ¹. Beyond collecting and exhibiting ceramics, the building itself uses architectural vocabulary to articulate a spatial proposal for industrial transformation, repositioning Yingge from a wholesale distribution hub focused on utilitarian ware production to a cultural anchor centered on ceramics curation.

Architectural Vocabulary: A Dialogue Between Clay and Light

The Yingge Ceramics Museum's building is itself a large-scale ceramic artwork, designed by renowned architect Chien Hsueh-yi ². Taking the four elements of "earth, water, fire, and wind" as his design philosophy, he integrated the structure into Yingge's natural landscape and cultural context. The museum's fair-faced concrete exterior, rugged and unadorned, echoes the earthen essence of ceramics; the expansive glass curtain walls draw in natural light, symbolizing the crystalline transparency achieved when ceramics are tempered in fire ². This design, which fuses architecture with exhibits and environment, breaks from the enclosed nature of traditional museums, allowing visitors to sense the vitality of ceramics within the space.

📝 Curator's Note: The birth of the Yingge Ceramics Museum was a pivotal declaration at the turn of the century, marking Taiwan's shift from utilitarian ware to an art-hall vision for its ceramics industry.

Industrial Transformation: From Contract Manufacturing to Cultural Curation

Yingge's kilns once focused on mass-producing utilitarian ceramics, prioritizing efficiency and output. The museum's arrival shifted the emphasis to the artistry, historicity, and educational value of ceramics, encouraging local operators to move from contract manufacturing toward brand innovation ³. This transition was not smooth—many traditional kilns faced challenges in technology upgrading, market repositioning, and talent development—but the museum's existence pointed a direction for Yingge's future.

📝 Curator's Note: When an industry faces transformation, the hardest part is often mindset rather than technology. The architecture and curation of the Yingge Ceramics Museum serve as a concrete footnote to this shift in thinking.

Ceramics Art Park: Spatial Extension and Natural Integration

Located behind the museum, the "Ceramics Art Park" extends the indoor exhibition space. Centered on the four plazas of "wind, water, earth, and fire," the park integrates ceramic art into the natural landscape ¹. The "Water Plaza," with its colorful sphere art installation, is a popular water-play area in summer and a visual installation that combines ceramic glaze colors with light and shadow ⁴. Outdoor sculptures scattered throughout the park (such as Miss Formosa) demonstrate the possibilities of ceramics in large-scale public art, pushing art out of display cases and into the living environment ³.

International Vision: The Taiwan International Biennial of Ceramics

Since 2004, the Yingge Ceramics Museum has organized the "Taiwan International Biennial of Ceramics," which has become a major event in the global ceramics world ⁵. The biennial alternates between a "competition" format and a "curator-invited" format, attracting top ceramic artists from around the world ⁶. The biennial has raised the international visibility of Taiwanese ceramics while introducing avant-garde contemporary ceramics thinking that challenges traditional perceptions of the ceramic medium. Through exchanges with international ceramics centers such as Faenza, Italy, Yingge has successfully connected local craft to the global contemporary art discourse ⁷.

Sanyi Art Village: A Base for Children's Education and Artist Residencies

Operational since 2012, "Sanyi Art Village," located within the Sanyi Ceramics Flower Source area, serves as an important base for the museum's children's art education and artist residency programs ⁸. It provides a space for children to engage with art and, through residency initiatives, fosters connections between domestic and international artists and the local community ⁹. This cultural energy radiating outward from the museum's core has transformed Yingge's ceramics culture from static display into a dynamic ecosystem.

Challenges and Outlook: Curating Future Possibilities

The success of the Yingge Ceramics Museum has also spurred cultural tourism development in the surrounding area. The ceramics old street near the museum has shifted from a former wholesale distribution hub to a tourist district combining cultural-creative shops, specialty dining, and ceramics experiences ³. However, the museum's journey has not been without challenges. How does it continue to attract the attention of younger generations in an ever-changing era? How does it promote ceramic art while balancing the development of local traditional industries? How does it ensure that the voice of Taiwanese ceramics is heard by more people on the international stage? These are the ongoing questions the Yingge Ceramics Museum faces.

📝 Curator's Note: The core story of the Yingge Ceramics Museum is "how an industry's past is re-curated into a region's present and future."

This modern building standing in Yingge carries the century-long story of Taiwanese ceramics, while continuously seeking new definitions for the verb "to curate" in the museum context.

Further Reading: New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum — Wikipedia ｜ Taiwan International Biennial of Ceramics ｜ New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum Digital Archive

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