#2

The exhibition themes for the first three iterations were Art Taiwan in 1995, Taiwan Taiwan: Facing Faces in 1997, and Close to Open: Taiwanese Artists Exposed in 1999. The mission of the 1990s exhibitions was to promote Taiwanese art to the world with symbols of Taiwan and its distinct subjectivity.

In 2003, Taiwan transitioned from participating in the Biennale as a national pavilion to participating as a cultural institution separate from the main event. Since then, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has continued to rent the Palazzo delle Prigioni but shifted to holding its exhibitions under the Biennale’s category of collateral events.