Final Project Proposal--Preliminary Draft (For

Teaching Staff Approval)

Crew Members: Names (Cns/Eng), ID #, Dept. (4-5 persons / group)

Dirk Krijgsman (T05103115) - Department of History

Carrie Graham (, T05101120) - Department of Chinese Literature
Pearl Chiu (B02104007) - Department of Philosophy
Yuliana Muksin (B05102058) - Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
Melani Muksin (B04504127) - Department of Chemical Engineering

Proposal: Describe the concept / approach / research question / hypothesis

for your project.
If you are doing the design a national museum for Taiwan project, address the following:
1. WHO are your target audience and sponsors? Whos on your curatorial team? How
will your museum change what they believe or what is believed of them? Melani
2. WHAT is your mission statement? What will your museum be about? What will be
on display and how will they be arranged / relate to each other in space (think: topics
of each gallery, orientation, routes)? What technologies and display techniques
will you employ? How will you address recent trends and debates in museum studies
(eg. repatriation, representing the other, building imagined communitiesetc.)
Pearl
3. WHERE will your museum be located and why? How will your venue enhance your
mission? Yuliana

4. HOW Where does your museum stand in the constellation of extant public /
national museums in Taiwan? How does your museum differ from extant ones? Why
does Taiwan need your museum? How does it relate to important issues in Taiwans
social, political, cultural spheres? Carrie

1. Who
Our museum will be open to public but our main target audience is
students. Because it is said that museums bring history to life. Seeing
something in person is quite different than seeing it on the pages of a
book or on a computer screen. In fact, research shows that those who
have firsthand experience are more likely to retain it later in life. Nothing
compares to seeing something with your own eyes. Also, because our
museum will serve to help younger generations comprehend their
history and recognize the achievements of those who came before them.
Our museum is an institution charged with conserving, protecting and
displaying artifacts from our past and thus preserving our rich heritage
which might otherwise be lost to private collectors or to time itself. We
want our museum to remind them not to lose the tangible links to our
past.

For our sponsors: The new rule for museum sponsors is that museums
and galleries will be required to scrutinize the ethical standards of
companies that provide sponsorship in the future under new rules. It
does not say museums should avoid any specific types of company, but
does say museums must find sponsors who share their "ethical values".
It also says sponsors should not exert influence over the contents of
exhibitions. Museums must be clear about who funds exhibitions. The
public don't like it if they feel the wool's been pulled over their eyes, if
they find out that the content of an exhibition has been influenced by
the company that sponsored it. The public trust museums to tell a
straight story. So, for our sponsors, were hoping that we could find a
couple of companies that would like to fund our museum because
working with a local museum or gallery can also help a company to
deliver its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. Companies keen
to show staff and local politicians that they are about more than just
making money will support local museums and galleries to demonstrate
their commitment to the community. What companies are looking for in
sponsoring a museum is a sense that the museum is well run and there
is robust measurement of impact in place, as well as how many people
will be coming to exhibitions and where from - local, national or
international. To persuade them to sponsor our museum, we have to find
projects which happen to coincide with the strategic objectives of the
donor, so well draw up a menu of projects that people might support.
First, well scrutinize our own project so we are in a position to
demonstrate to potential funders how its "reach" will meet their own
promotional goals. Second, well examine the projects that companies
already support to see where ours might match their priorities. And

third, If we cannot offer 'prestige' as a small museum, we may be able to

provide other benefits to a company, such as helping it demonstrate its
corporate social responsibility.

For the curatorial team, I think the best person to be in our curatorial
team would be a historian because our museum talk a lot about
colonization era from hundreds of years ago and it also focus on dutch
formosa period and history of sea power which most people don't
remember anymore that's why we need someone that have high interest
on the topic and know a lot about it to arrange the exhibition. And if I
would to give an example of the historian from taiwan, maybe it would
be Chou Wan-yao that graduated from Ph.D., Yale University and now
work in NTU. Also Lee Wen-liang Ph.D., that graduated from National
Taiwan University. Chou Wan-yao Research Fields are History of Taiwan
During the Japanese Colonial Period, Qing Dynasty Women's History.
Meanwhile , Lee Wen-liang Research Field is about Taiwanese History. We
would also welcome people who major in art history to be in our
curatorial group

People usually says its all in the past, or the past is not important. Some
people believed what happened in the past (like the colonization era) is
not important anymore because it happened hundreds years ago. But
theyre wrong. We built this museum, so we can change their mindset
about the importance of the past. Our museum is built and maintained
for people to actually see items and artifacts of a past era in order to
make connections and sense of the present, and even possibly speculate
on the future. Through our museum, well remind people how important
is the past and there will be no present without the past.

2. What
The National Taiwan Colonial Museum focuses on the diversities in
culture and developments that different governments or regimes put
into Taiwan. This museum traces back to different eras of Taiwan history,
revealing the significant and historical events that took place by then.
Due to the opening location by the Pacific Ocean, Taiwan had been ruled
by many countries, either for commerce or military issues. The first
colonization dates back to the 17th century, with Dutch developing the
trading of goods. Later, we have Spain following behind, building the
settlement in the north for a brief period of time. As time passes by, the

Qing dynasty and Japan also ruled Taiwan over the years. Until today, we
can still experience the multi-culture by visiting the historical sites from
all over Taiwan, but there hasnt been a museum containing all the
characteristics of these different cultures at once. We hope to create the
National Taiwan Colonial Museum serving as an exhibition displaying the
identity of Taiwan from the 17th century to today. Of the inner display,
there will be five main galleries which refer to the regimes of Dutch and
Spaniard, the Kingdom of Dongning, the Ching Dynasty, and the
Japanese colonial period. Upon the entrance, there will be a space as an
orientation giving the visitors an overall concept of Taiwan history. We
will play documentary films of Taiwan history and display maps and
other archives for visitors to watch and browse. As for the individual
galleries, we will briefly introduce the histories of different eras by videos
and charts to make it clear and understandable. There will also be
documents and antiques from each colonial periods presenting, such as
apparel, food, furniture, and utensils. We plan to display how
communities and societies were back then in the colonial periods. We
also manage to use the technique of diorama to give the visitors a more
specific idea of the exotic cultural phenomena that took place in Taiwan.
The arrangement of the galleries will be in chronological order so that it
is more organized and even closer to how the history occurred. The
route and guided tours will also be in chronological order so the visitors
can grasp the idea of when each colonial period took place. Overall, this
museum aims to display the cultural influence that has reflected from
different eras of Taiwan.

3. Where
Our museum would be located in Taipei, Shilin district. First of all, we
choose Taipei because it is the central capital of Taiwan and the most
strategic location for tourist attraction. Taipei is also one of the most
developed cities in the region, and one of the most frequently chosen
place for tourists to visit in Taiwan. Taipei also has many heritage
centers and cultural attractions that make the city a perfect tourism
spot.

We choose Shilin district as the exact location, because its close to the
National Palace Museum, which is one of the top tourist destination of
Taipei. Many tourists and also local Taiwanese people come to visit this
museum for the first time to understand Taiwanese culture and history.
So, in this way, we think this location would be perfect for our museum,

because its near to the NPM, thus many people would often come here
and they can easily spot our venue. By setting up our museum in this
location, we can add more collection to the cultural attractions of Taipei,
and provide more knowledge of history and cultural backgrounds to the
local Taiwanese people and the tourists.

Our mission is to help Taiwanese people to understand more about their

culture & history, and also to introduce the history of Taiwan to the
outside people. Our museum will provide historical explanations about
Taiwans colonial history, focusing on Dutch Formosa period and
Kingdom of Doning. We hope Taiwanese people and also the tourists can
gain more knowledge and understanding about these periods in their
history, as well as to expand their horizons on these subjects. We would
categorize our museum under Pan-Asian scope, because we would also
like to compare Taiwan with the other Asian countries in the same
period, and to figure out the role of Taiwan during those times. We hope
the Taiwanese people can understand better about their own unique
identity and place in the history of the world. By providing the visitors
with explanations using documentary films, display objects, dioramas,
and other means, we believe this can help us to achieve our mission
through this museum.

4. How
Our National Taiwan Colonial Museum will take the stage front and
center in the context of some more specialized history museums in
Taiwan. Ever since 1624, Taiwan has been its own independent country
only once, for less than a year. The rest of the time it has experienced
Dutch, Spanish, Qing, Japanese, and Chinese ruler, who have all left their
mark with historical sites turned museums. Some examples are the
Dutch Anping Fort and the Spanish Fort San Domingo. However, one
museum displaying all these government and cultural influences at once
has not been established yet, which is the gap our museum wishes to
fill.

One slightly similar museum does exist, the National Museum of Taiwan
History in Tainan, which has exhibits on Taiwans history from the stone
age to today. The main difference is this museum focuses on the multiethnic interactions, and different ecological environments over time in
Taiwan. Our museum will concentrate more on the separated periods of

authorities in Taiwan. We will display each regimes influence on the

culture and development of Taiwan, ultimately documenting the
Taiwanese peoples shifting identities. Our National Taiwan Colonial
Museum is needed to help Taiwanese people understand Taiwans unique
identity and place in the world throughout history, all under one roof.

These themes matter today for one, because of the ongoing controversy
around Taiwans political status in relation to China. The current status
quo presents an undefined legal and future status of Taiwan, which has
created social and cultural ramifications around the identity of Taiwan
and its people. Politics has and continues to influence the development
of Taiwanese culture and identity. Many have asked and continue to ask,
Who are the Taiwanese?, we hope our new National Taiwan Colonial
Museum helps them discover the answer for themselves.

References: Include at 3+ sources from assigned / further readings, 3+

additional sources from well-regarded journal articles in museum studies or
your topic Dirk
Reference List
Andrade, Tonio. How Taiwan became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish and
Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2007.
Bell, Mieke. The Discourse of a Museum. in Visual
Methodologies. ed. Gillian Rose. London: SAGE Publications, 2012.
Copper, John F. Taiwan, Nation-state or Province? Philadelphia:
Westview Press, 2013.
Goldwater, Robert. Museums of Ethnology and their
classification. in Museum Studies, an Anthology Context. ed.
Bettina Messias Carbonell. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2012.
Knell, Simon. National Museums and the National Imagination. in
National Museums. ed. Simon Knell, Pter Aronsson, Arne Brugge
Admundsen, Amy Jane Barnes, Stuart Burch, Jennifer Carter,
Viviane Gosseling, Sarah Hughes and Alan Kirwan. London and
New York: Routlegde, 2011.

Schick-Chen, Agnes S. and Astrid Lipinsky. Justice Restored?:

Between Rehabilitation and Reconciliation in China and Taiwan.
New York: Peter Lang, 2012.

Case Studies / Museum Models: List and briefly describe 2 relevant

exhibitions and museums which you will analyze, compare, or base your
museum designs on. Talk about how museums we have visited served as
positive or negative examples and why. Dirk
Anping Old Fort
The Anping Old Fort represents an important colonial era, the Dutch
colonial era. Even though this period was not long, only forty years, it
started the migration from Mainland China to Taiwan. Because of the
Dutch presence and the strategic location as a trade port in Tainan, the
Chinese rulers became more interested in the island. In the Anping Old
Fort is an exhibition about the remains of the Dutch colonial period and
this museum can help us to express this period in a correct way in our
colonial museum.
1. TFAM
We recently visited the TFAM. Of course this is a museum for modern
and contemporary art, but because the theme of the Biennial was about
archiving and the use of spatial arrangement, this could be very helpful
for our museum. Space will play an important role in our colonial
museum. Space, structure and architecture itself form part of an
exhibition and in case of colonial eras, can also tell a part of the story.
Interesting task for us will be that all the museums we visited about
some parts of the colonial history do not tell the entire story. Our job will
be to explain Taiwans colonial history in one museum and this is
different from how the colonial eras are displayed in other museums in
Taiwan.

Use this business plan as a sample to craft your final project

proposal:
http://americanwritersmuseum.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/AWM-Design-Plan.pdf