The Artful Heart of Taipei – Exploring the Capital’s Happening Gallery, Music, and Film Scenes

Author Han Cheung
Photo Vision
Editor Levarcy Chen

Art and creativity are interwoven into Taipei’s urban fabric. A casual stroll might lead visitors to public installations, vibrant craft markets, independent bookstores, and much discovery beyond. Many heritage sites have been converted into cultural hubs, and the city also offers museums and exhibitions aplenty.

Visitors to Taipei don’t need to search hard to experience the city’s dynamic arts and culture scene. Creativity is embedded in daily life – power boxes are adorned with quirky, hand-painted illustrations, while colorful alley murals reflect local history, humor, and daily life. Installation works and commissioned sculptures appear in metro stations and neighborhood parks. On weekends, pop-up artisan markets seem to be around every corner, often accompanied by live performances.

Top-notch museums and acclaimed galleries showcase everything from cutting-edge contemporary pieces and classic masterpieces to traditional calligraphy and indigenous crafts. Atmospheric heritage sites across town, such as once-abandoned factory complexes and Japanese era dormitory residences, have been repurposed as cultural hubs. These locations offer a wide range of local and international exhibits, concept shops, design boutiques, specialty bookstores, stylish eateries and bars, open-air performance spaces, and more. Visitors are free to explore and browse at their leisure, learning about the fascinating history of each site along the way.

Movie buffs can head to one of Taipei’s atmospheric arthouse theaters, where thoughtfully curated lineups of indie productions, documentaries, and vintage masterpieces are shown at affordable prices. Many also host themed film festivals throughout the year. Music fans can hunt for hidden gems in the surprising number of vinyl and record shops and catch live sets of a diversity of genres at intimate venues scattered throughout the city.

Galleries

Taipei’s gallery scene is remarkably diverse, ranging from established commercial spaces that showcase renowned artists to smaller, experimental venues. Trendy, pop-culture-infused spots add a more accessible, street-style dimension to the vibrant ecosystem. Many of these are located in the Neihu area, making this a thriving destination for art lovers.

©Double Sqaure Gallery

Double Square Gallery (doublesquare.com.tw) isn’t simply named after its two rectangular exhibition rooms. The relevant characters in its Chinese name also mean “two sides,” reflecting the gallery’s mission to foster dialogue and exploration between contrasting roles and ideas, such as artist and curator, space and community, exhibition and audience. It presents multidisciplinary, concept-driven exhibitions by both Taiwanese and international contemporary artists. Visitors can expect thoughtfully curated shows that delve into a wide range of themes while pushing the boundaries of form and content.

©Whitestone Gallery

Just one metro station away lie two other galleries. Whitestone Gallery (whitestone-gallery.com), established in 1967 in Tokyo, expanded to Taipei in 2017. This city’s branch features a striking façade of stacked, staggered cypress-wood boards that continue into the interior to form organic sculptural staircases, walls, and other structures. It carries on the gallery’s original mission of promoting Japanese postwar avant-garde artists while also spotlighting contemporary Asian painting, sculpture, and installation art.

▲Jam Wu: Shadow Puppeteer, installation view, 2023. Photo courtesy of TKG+ © ANPIS FOTO

The nearby Tina Keng Gallery (tinakenggallery.com) has its roots in the influential Lin & Keng Gallery, which was instrumental in popularizing the work of Western-trained Chinese modernists such as San Yu (常玉) and Zao Wou-Ki (趙無極). Today, Tina Keng continues to spotlight Asian contemporary art across generations and nurture Taiwanese talent, with a focus on historical and cultural context. Located in the same building is TKG+, its sister venue that puts on experimental new-media presentations, mostly by local creators.

Outside of Neihu, more alternative spaces present counterpoints to the commercial scene. In Zhongshan District, FreeS Art Space (facebook.com/freesartspace) offers the majority of its exhibition slots through open calls to artists and curators, providing a platform for experimentation by students and emerging local voices. Co-run by the Association of Visual Arts in Taiwan and the Hantoo Art Group, the socially minded space emphasizes dialogue and public interaction through panels, open discussions, and community-oriented events.

Opened in 2008 as a platform for local and international contemporary art exchange, Project Fulfill Art Space (projectfulfill.com) transcends the conventional gallery experience by emphasizing site-specificity in each exhibition. Based on the notion of “right here, right now,” it invites contemporary artists to integrate both the spatial and temporal characteristics and conditions of the venue space into their work. Whether through painting, sculpture, installations, video, or sound art, this approach results in unique, immersive experiences for visitors.

On the other end of the spectrum, Dopeness Art Lab (instagram.com/dopenessartlab) highlights trendy, playful pop and urban aesthetics, its spacious, industrial-style concrete building with eye-catching window visuals standing out on busy Keelung Road. Showcasing bold, whimsical, and often humorous pieces by globally recognized artists, such as D*Face and Kwang Hyun Kim (金光賢), Dopeness Art Lab also incorporates a lifestyle component through brand collaborations and collectible merchandise. Note that since the gallery is only open during exhibitions, checking first on IG is recommended.

Music Stores

Taipei was once dotted with all sorts of music retailers filled with vinyl records, CDs, and cassette tapes, but the rise of streaming platforms and soaring rent forced many iconic shops to shut down over the past decade. Despite this, several stores continue to thrive by focusing on particular genres or formats, rare releases, and independent productions. The selections are well-curated, with knowledgeable staff helping visitors discover new artists or track down hard-to-find gems.

Nestled in a cluster of repurposed, century-old camphor refinery buildings in Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Vinyl Decision (facebook.com/vinyldecision) oozes nostalgic charm with its exposed red-brick walls, high ceilings, checkered floor tiles, and bar crafted with vintage speakers. An impressive selection of more than 10,000 records lines the walls – primarily rock, jazz, blues, funk, and soul – with many pressings imported from the US, UK, and especially Japan. Visitors are welcome to give the records a spin on the in-store turntables.

Vinyl Decision started as a personal collection built up over three decades. When it got too big, in 2014 the owner decided to share his passion with the public. Today, the store also offers vinyl-appraisal services and state-of-the-art vinyl record cleaning for collectors.

While vinyl is the soul of the shop, a full bar/café operation offers Western comfort fare such as pizzas, burritos, quiches, and pies. Customers can be seen hanging out and enjoying tunes in the warmly lit, cozy interior, browsing the shelves while sipping a drink. The shop also puts on live music sessions daily, mostly featuring jazz, funk, and blues acts, plus special guest performers, DJ sets, and listening parties.

Informally founded in 1999 in a converted men’s restroom in the now-defunct Zeitgeist Live House, White Wabbit Records (www.wwr.com.tw) has long been a vital source of indie music for Taiwan enthusiasts. During a time when it was much harder to access non-mainstream sounds, the label and shop championed local underground artists while introducing local devotees to a wide range of alternative foreign acts, even inviting them to Taiwan to play.

Today, the store is hidden in a quiet alley in the Shida (short for National Taiwan Normal University) neighborhood. Its quaint wooden patio, trimmed windows, and colorful event posters give it a subtle charm that invites in curious passersby. The compact but comfortable interior is packed with an eclectic selection of vinyls and CDs. Handwritten commentary by staff on sticky notes adds a personal touch, and there’s even a shelf recommending albums by MBTI personality type. The affable, well-informed staff are happy to chat, at times engaging with customers in lively conversations about music.

Even as physical music sales decline in Taiwan, its independent music scene continues to thrive. White Wabbit remains a haven for those who enjoy tactile formats and eye-catching album art – whether hunting for new favorites, obscure pressings, or just to soak in the atmosphere.

Alternative Cinemas

Cinephiles looking for more than commercial cineplex fare have much to choose from in Taipei. Smaller theaters screen arthouse films, documentaries, restored classics, experimental shorts, and independent Taiwanese productions, while the city’s myriad film festivals highlight local talent, explore timely social and cultural themes, and bring in international works and filmmakers. They create an ecosystem that continuously pushes Taiwan’s film scene to grow and diversify.

Opened in Ximending in 1975, Wonderful Theatre (wonderful.movie.com.tw) showed mainstream fare for 21 years before becoming the first venue in Taiwan to hone in exclusively on arthouse, smaller budget, and local productions, kicking off with Emir Kusturica’s iconic dark-comedy war film Underground. Just a short walk from MRT Ximen Station, the no-frills theater with two spacious screening rooms is hidden up on the 7^th floor of a commercial building, secluded from the hectic streets below. Fun fact: there has been a cinema on this site since 1920.

Eslite Art House (arthouse.eslite.com) is located inside the Eslite Spectrum building, a popular mall and cultural hub in the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park that includes one of the city’s 24-hour bookstores.

The theater selects both new and classic films with cultural depth and social relevance, based on humanistic concern and artistic value. The seats are known for their comfort and leg room, and café-style fare is offered in the lobby.

SPOT Taipei (www.spot.org.tw) is housed in a charming 99-year-old US colonial-style building that once served as the American consulate and ambassador’s residence. Abandoned after the US cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979, it was reopened in 2002 under the management of the Taiwan Film & Culture Association, at that time led by acclaimed director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), as a multipurpose space dedicated to showing non-mainstream films. The screening room occupies the former garage and generator room, while the main building hosts a café, gallery, event space, lounge, and boutique with film-themed goods.

SPOT expanded to Huashan 1914 Creative Park in 2012, taking over the former packaging hall of the Taipei Wine Factory. Visitors pass through an atmospheric, glass-covered corridor lined with film visuals and artwork to reach the main space, which includes two state-of-the-art screening halls, a café, a cinema-themed shop, and an event space where cinema related lectures and activities are regularly hosted.

▲Taipei Film Festival at SPOT Huashan

SPOT is one of the screening venues for the Taipei Film Festival (taipeiff.taipei). Now in its 27^th year, the festival brings independent productions from around the world to the capital every summer while spotlighting local talent. The films are curated into themed sections – including a different City in Focus each year – the International New Talent Competition is staged to showcase debut and second-feature directors, and the Taipei Film Awards celebrate excellence in Taiwanese cinema.

Another important annual cinema event in Taipei is the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (goldenhorse.org.tw), the largest and longest-running film festival in Taiwan. Founded in 1980 to introduce acclaimed foreign films to local audiences, it continues that mission through its rich, thoughtfully curated programming while presenting a wide spectrum of Chinese-language productions from Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. The lineup includes films nominated for the prestigious Golden Horse Awards, widely regarded as the”Oscars of Chinese-language cinema.” A key festival venue, introduced last year, is the Golden Horse × Vieshow Co-branded Cinema, reflecting the successful blending of art films in Taiwan’s mainstream movie culture.

Cultural-Creative Parks

Former industrial sites and heritage buildings across Taipei are being revitalized into dynamic creative hubs blending history with contemporary culture. With much to explore, these spaces have become popular destinations for both locals and tourists, offering a mix of art and design exhibitions, craft markets, specialty stores, hands-on workshops, live performances, and more.

One of the most prominent examples is the aforementioned Huashan 1914 Creative Park (www.huashan1914.com), a sprawling complex that was built as a wine and sake factory during the Japanese era. It almost became the site of Taiwan’s legislature – fortunately, that plan was scrapped in favor of what has become one of Taipei’s premier cultural-creative hubs. With red-brick buildings, tall arched windows, sloped tile roofs, and ivy-covered concrete walls, the site unfolds through a maze of narrow walkways and open courtyards that encourage wandering and spontaneous discovery.

Still retaining its raw, time-weathered industrial charm, the park now plays host to a wide array of exhibitions, performances, workshops, and specialty boutiques, as well as an arthouse cinema (see above), live-music venue, vinyl shop (see above), and a diverse mix of restaurants, cafés, and bars.

Programming ranges from pop culture showcases, such as anime and collectibles, to immersive art experiences, family-friendly fairs, and expos displaying local creativity. Visitors can browse select concept shops, join creative workshops, or catch an outdoor performance. With an endless rotation of pop-up shows and markets, special collaborations, and themed festivals, it seems that there’s always something new to discover at Huashan. With an endless rotation of pop-up shows and markets, special collaborations, and themed festivals, it seems that there’s always something new to discover at Huashan.

Built in 1937, the expansive Songshan Tobacco Factory across town in Xinyi District has been repurposed into Taipei’s leading design and cultural center, the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (www.songshanculturalpark.org). Its distinct, modernist industrial architecture features high ceilings and long corridors encircling a tranquil central garden, while a spacious, tree-lined plaza often serves as a stage for outdoor markets, live performances, and food trucks. The park has recently begun offering English guided tours, allowing foreign visitors a deeper understanding of its historic architecture and rich history.

A row of neatly arranged concrete warehouses functions as exhibition and event spaces. Retaining a raw, utilitarian aesthetic, they host pop-up installations, cultural festivals, immersive experiences, student showcases, and pop culture-oriented fairs.

The park positions itself as an incubator for design and innovation, to cultivate emerging talent, support local brands, and explore global trends. The site is home to the Taiwan Design Museum, specialty design shops, a hands-on workshop for upcycling waste materials, coworking studios, and a design library. Major events such as the Golden Pin Design Awards, the Taiwan Design Expo, graduation shows, and seasonal festivals further highlight the creative energy of this park.

Music Stores
White Wabbit Records | 小白兔唱片

🗺️Click here to see aforementioned spots on Google Map

This article is reproduced under the permission of TAIPEI. Original content can be found on the website of Taipei Travel Net (www.travel.taipei/en).

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The Artful Heart of Taipei – Exploring the Capital’s Happening Gallery, Music, and Film Scenes

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