It is my great pleasure to announce that the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, is holding the exhibition titled “The Power of Contemporary Taiwanese Ceramics,” which displays many precious works from the collection of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan.

Looking back to October 15, 2005, the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, and Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum (the title at the time) signed the Memorandum on Cultural Exchanges, aimed at promoting cooperation in comprehensive international cultural programs in all areas of mutual interest. Based on this agreement, I am pleased that we are now holding this exhibition, concurrently with the International Ceramics Festival Mino ’21.

Taiwan, lying on the western end of the Pacific Ocean about 150 km from the southeast coast of Mainland China,comprises the main island, the size of which is similar to that of Kyushu in Japan, and many smaller islands. The semitropical islands are covered by lush greenery throughout the year. During the Age of Discovery, Taiwan was introduced to the Western world as “Formosa”, which means a “beautiful isle” in Portuguese. Even today, the term is used to praise this beautiful semitropical land.

In the stormy history of the past 400 years, in which modern Japan was deeply involved, Taiwanese culture has been developed by people of various ethnic origins, including the indigenous people, who had inhabited the islands before the colonization of a part of Taiwan by the Dutch in the 17th century, the Chinese people (the Minnan [also known as the Hoklo] people, Hakka, and mainlanders), who came to the islands crossing the Taiwan Strait, and new immigrants mainly from Southeast Asia, who settled there recently. Because of such a multi-ethnic composition, Taiwanese society is complex and sometimes appears to be chaotic, but it is developing its rich original culture, fueled by the development of a democratic society where multidimensional values and diverse characteristics of individual people are respected. At present, Taiwan is a focal area in studies of cultural pluralism in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Yingge Ceramics Museum, which opened in 2000, introduces the history of Taiwan’s ceramic art in its permanent exhibition. In addition, the museum holds exhibitions on specific themes, such as contemporary, traditional-style ceramic ware, pottery and porcelain for daily use and ceramic works of plastic art. It is particularly noteworthy that the museum has been leading the development of free expression of Taiwanese ceramic artists,who pioneered a new phase of art in tandem with Taiwan’s democratization in and after the 1980s. This exhibition introduces the power and vitality of such contemporary ceramic artists in Taiwan.I truly believe that their free creativity will significantly inspire Japanese ceramic artists.

Finally, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all related parties who have rendered exceptional support to us, particularly to the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, which enabled us to display many valuable works from its collection.