If you’re looking for your next cultural travel destination in Asia, two new museums will be opening this year to platform contemporary art with local and international connections.
In this article:
Another addition to the cultural fabric of Taiwan
The New Taipei City Art Museum (NTCAM), the first public contemporary art museum in New Taipei City (formerly known as Taipei County), will open on 25 April.
NTCAM is committed to preserving Taiwan’s rich cultural heritage while fostering cross-cultural dialogue, and strives to position New Taipei City on the global art stage.
Opening exhibitions include Don’t Worry, Baby, a site-specific installation by cross-generational local art group, Xindian Boys, in collaboration with collective XTRUX, which utilises AI and computational technologies.
Group show, Reimagining Radical Cities, brings together 23 local and international artists and art groups, including celebrated South Korean artist Haegue Yang and Iraqi American artist Michael Rakowitz. Yang will present the large-scale installation, Cittadella, while Rakowitz collaborated with Southeast Asian immigrant and migrant worker communities to explore social challenges in Taiwanese society.
Works from the NTCAM Collection will feature in Encounters in Reflection, spanning the 1930s to the present and celebrating New Taipei City’s artistic heritage. Visitors will have the chance to encounter pieces by Wu Tien-chang and Wu Mali, who represented Taiwan at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and 1995 respectively.
Children and families will be able to explore The Ongoing Nature, an interactive exhibition that invites collective art-making and creativity.
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Director Lai Hsiang-ling brings over three decades of experience in art history and museology to NTCAM. She has previously been in leadership roles at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. NTCAM is also guided by an International Advisory Committee of art leaders, including Mami Kataoka (Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo) and Clara Kim (Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles).
Lai says, “After years of preparation, we are excited to welcome the upcoming grand opening of the New Taipei City Art Museum. As the first public art museum in New Taipei City, the museum carries the important mission of connecting art with the public, striving to become a ‘Museum for All’.”
First major contemporary art museum in Thailand
Dib Bangkok, Thailand’s first major museum dedicated to international contemporary art, will welcome its inaugural visitors in December 2025.
Founded by the Osathanugrah family in the artistic legacy of the late art collector, Petch Osathanugrah, Dib Bangkok is set to become a cultural landmark in Southeast Asia with its three-storey museum in a 6600-square metre converted warehouse.
Works by world-renowned artists such as Lee Bul, Anselm Kiefer and Alicja Kwade are a part of the Dib Bangkok collection and will feature in its inaugural exhibition. The collection, comprising over 1000 pieces, has a particular focus on art that challenges perceptions, sparks dialogue and invites deeper reflection on the complexities of human existence, with the majority of works dating from the 1990s to the present.
‘Dib’ translates to ‘raw’ or ‘natural, authentic state’ in English, and this is reflected as a core ethos in the museum’s mission, design and programming.
WHY Architecture’s redesign features 11 gallery spaces, including the ‘Chapel’ (a cone-shaped gallery with a mosaic-tiled exterior), a central courtyard, an outdoor sculpture garden and a penthouse space for special events.
Dib Bangkok will be chaired by Purat (Chang) Osathanugrah, son of Petch, who will bring his experiences across tertiary education, private equity and real estate to drive the museum’s position as a global hub. Director, Dr Miwako Tezuka comes from a background of working in New York, including as the Gallery Director of the Japan Society and Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Asia Society Museum. The curator will be Ariana Chaivaranon, who has worked across Harvard Art Museums, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and the UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
Tezuka says, “I am inspired by the visionary foundation laid by Petch and brought to the next generation by Chang, centred on profound conceptual and emotional engagement with contemporary art from across the globe. As a new museum, we have the freedom to explore initiatives beyond traditional frameworks.”
Working to further his father’s legacy, Osathanugrah adds, “We are building a space that offers a window into deeper art appreciation, a place where reflection and play coexist, and where every visit brings something new and unexpected.”
