Located in Chishang Township, Taitung County, the Chishang Granary Art Museum is a cultural hub transformed from agricultural space. Converted from a local old granary, it preserves the memory of grain while becoming a meeting point for contemporary art and everyday aesthetics. Stepping inside, visitors encounter a hand-carved door by Amis artist Lafin Sawmah. Its fish-scale texture evokes both ocean waves and rippling rice fields, symbolizing Chishang's interweaving of coastal culture and rice civilization. The museum's art director, Wu Chia Fen, notes that this is the only artwork in the museum visitors may touch—the most direct expression of the bond between art and the land.

The museum's connection with Chishang dates to 2009, when the Lovely Taiwan Foundation, led by Ko Wen-Chang, chose Chishang as its first township for long-term community engagement. Through sustained collaboration with local groups, the Foundation gradually built trust within the community. As its artist residency program grew, the Foundation began envisioning a local art museum in Chishang. The idea gained support from Liang Cheng Hsien, chairman of local rice brand Do Re Mi Rice, who donated his family's old granary as the site. The Foundation worked with local residents to define what Chishang elements the museum should reflect. The space would be not merely a venue for displaying art—but a node sustaining local life.

Art in Step with the Agricultural Calendar

With the museum as its hub, the team weaves together local seasonal festivals and events—from spring plowing picnics and the summer Rice Feast to the autumn harvest concert and a winter artist residency program—interweaving the rhythms of art and agriculture. The Rice Feast places Chishang rice at center stage, transforming what appears to be a simple bowl of white rice into a layered dining experience. Each grain emerges from steaming distinct and tender, carrying a faint natural sweetness. Paired with local vegetables, mountain produce, and seasonal ingredients, the rice might appear as a picnic bento, a creative rice ball, or a fusion dish—but always as the foundation. Meals are often set in open fields, with a breeze moving across the rice paddies. Eating here, surrounded by nature, diners build a sensory memory that belongs unmistakably to Chishang.

In recent years, the autumn harvest concert has emerged as a cultural landmark, drawing visitors from across Taiwan into the paddies and village lanes. Since the artist residency program launched in 2014, dozens of artists have created work here, leaving their pieces scattered across the township's landscape and spaces of the township, shaping an art practice that coexists with its environment. For the museum, creativity does not reside only within the gallery—it lives equally in farming, food, and local daily life.

☛ 　Chishang Granary Art Museum has been selected as one of the Ministry of Culture's inaugural 100 Culture Bases.