Department of Culture Affairs

Taipei Cinema Park is located at the intersection of Wuchang Street and Kangding Road in Ximending, Taipei City, where Taiwan Gas Co., Ltd. (founded in 1934 during the Japanese colonial period) and later Taipei Gas Co., Ltd. used to be. Owing to flourishing bamboo forest in the neighborhood, the area was nicknamed "Hamacho" by Japanese and "Zuwei Alley" by locals. After having been left unused for 34 years, the space was turned into the largest park in Ximending following the completion of rudimentary park greening engineering in 2001.

Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government had shouldered the planning and redesign task to reutilize the historical space with the objective to create the first large leisure space in Taipei, while at the same time keeping certain facilities of the former gas company such as plants, chimneys, and coke furnaces unaltered. The park was planned under the theme of movie, integrating multifaceted entertaining culture, such as movies, coffee places and youth recreation in the area.

Considering the fruitful accomplishments The Red House under the Taipei Culture Foundation had made, the unit was assigned to take over Taipei Cinema Park in June 2009. It has held several events such as "Meeting Love in Ximending – Love, Culture and Art in Taipei" during the Taipei Film Festival, followed by "Street Voice," "Outdoor Movie Theater," and "Public Arts Exhibition" as well as regulated the performances of street artists in Ximending Pedestrian Area. It is hoped that with the effort and existing resources of the Red House will give birth to a prosperous Ximending as a whole.

Highlights of the Taipei Cinema Park include the Art Plaza, Multifunctional Hall, Backstreet Plaza, the Urban Show Case, and Lane 96 among others. As the main part of the park, Art Plaza has a total area of over 1,980 square meters, providing a decent performance space for artists.

Multifunctional Hall, situated next to the bustling Wuchang Street, is a retro-styled red-bricked architecture. It offers a space both for dynamic activities and exhibitions such as workshops, lectures, exhibitions, indoor screening, and theater rehearsals.

Backstreet Plaza, an outdoor space adjacent to "American Street" and Mingtaizi Street, reflects the long-lived youth street culture in Ximending. The plaza management cooperates with Taipei Association for Diverse Art and Youth Development to provide graffiti, DJ music, skateboarding, and hip-hop dance workshops.

Lane 96 (nicknamed "American Street") on Kunming Street is an area featuring trendy youth apparel and prevailing youth culture. The Urban Show Case is a large two-story multimedia public art installation, designed by award-winning architect and artist Shen Chung-yei. Developed from the concept of "transformation," Shen attempted to create a culture belonging to the new generation through integrating tradition and modernity.

Taipei Cinema Park now holds regular events such as screenings of early Taiwanese films on Art Plaza on Saturdays. In the near future, art installations will be introduced to enrich the leisure space. The venue has successfully combined youth art, graffiti art, original music, sub-culture, coffee, and local power to turn itself into an art and cultural platform with a unique aura.