/ History

Abstract

ALIEN Art Centre is located in Kaohsiung on the former site of the Kin-Ma Military Hostel, originally built in 1967 as a transit station for National Army soldiers en route to the front lines in Kinmen and Matsu. Following the end of the Cold War, the complex was gradually decommissioned and left vacant by the late 1990s.

Founded by ALIEN Art, a restoration and adaptive-reuse project was launched in 2016 to transform the historic complex into a contemporary art institution. The centre opened to the public in 2018 under the name ALIEN Art Centre. The revitalisation preserved the original architectural massing and circulation routes while responding to contemporary curatorial needs, allowing visitors to experience an interplay between historical memory and new creative production as they move through the site.

Positioned as a long-term cultural initiative, the Centre emphasises curatorial practice, spatial experience, and the relationship between art and everyday life. Through exhibitions and public programmes, it continues to support collaborations with artists, research-based curatorial approaches, and interdisciplinary projects, fostering an urban platform for cultural exchange while deepening connections with the local community.


Background

The year after the August 23 artillery battle (1959), the Kaohsiung city government began working on plans to build the Kin-Ma Military Hostel as a rest stop for military personnel on their way to the front lines. As the land was originally a fishpond, it would take some time to prepare the soil, a wait that ended up taking a decade. When the wait was finally over, two Kin-Ma Military Hostel, in Kaohsiung and Keelung, were completed in 1967. The word “Kin” and “Ma” represents the outlying islands Kinmen and Matsu, the front line between Taiwan and China during the Cold War. The boundary held the spirit similar to that of the Berlin Wall and the 38.5th Parallel Line that separates North and South Korea. What the hostel stood for was gradually forgotten by the world, as time went by and the political and economic situations changed.

Those soldiers who drew assignments on Kinmen and Penghu arrived by bus from points all over Taiwan at the Kaohsiung Kin-Ma Military Hostel, where they waited for clear weather. Hearts filled with anxiety, they boarded military cruisers on wobbly legs for their distant destination, screwing up as much courage as possible no matter how deep their trepidation. Between 1967 and 1998,　the Kin-Ma Military Hostel were way stations for troops headed off to military duty, as well as the site of joyous reunions with family after successful completion of military service. The Kin-Ma Military Hostel in Keelung having been demolished, yet this historical time is left to the Kin-Ma Military Hostel in Kaohsiung to keep alive.

Following the end of the Cold War, in 1998 the Kaohsiung Kin-Ma Military Hostel was handed over to the Ministry of Transportation Railway Reconstruction Bureau, serving as the command center for the Kaohsiung railway underground construction project until the bureau’s relocation in 2012. In 2016 the Kaohsiung Urban Development Bureau solicited open bids; ALIEN Art Co. Ltd undertook the rights to preserve the property, conducting the restoration work and operation. Following two years of preparation and restoration, the Kin-Ma Military Hostel was reborn as the ALIEN Art Centre in 2018.

Renovation

In 2016, ALIEN Art undertook the restoration of the Kin-Ma Military Hostel, committed to reinstating its historical significance. Embracing traditional craftsmanship, ALIEN Art engaged skilled artisans to meticulously recreate the polished stonework and washed rock face textures of the era. They transformed the previously enclosed structures into open, fluid spaces, redesigning the original U-shaped corridor into a square layout. Additionally, they integrated abundant greenery and thoughtful landscape design. Through reduction, addition, open planning, and coverage, ALIEN brings light into the rooms through the openings on windows and doors along corridors. The new face simplicity and tranquility resonates with the forests. Those who stand in the building and look out from inside can find every corner picturesque to their eyes.

Significance

Originally completed in 1967, the Kin-Ma Military Hostel is an icon of post-war architecture in Taiwan, incorporating the modern Western architectural minimalism whose development was accelerated by Taiwan’s rapid post-1965 economic growth, along with the quasi-classical style once popular in Taiwan during the Japanese period, as well as various symbols of classical Chinese architecture. Fluid horizontal and vertical lines outline large openings to let in light and circulate the air, while the circular design allows overlapping positive and negative space to bring out a sense of depth, orderly stairways and corridors, and the geometric variations reminiscent of Mies van der Rohe lend a spare, clean structure and an additional functionalist flavor. ALIEN restored the polished stonework and washed rock faces textures characteristic of the era, repaired the corridors with brickwork, and the patterned tiles on the outer wall, preserving the traces of the renovation with the texture of cement.


Architecture Elements

● Dots
circles and holes are key elements of the architecture. Circular or square openings are to be found on decorative window grilles, fences, and light holes.

▌ Lines
beams and columns, flanges, pillars, and wooden handrails connected with mortise and tenon joints; these are all indispensable in supporting the entire building structure. The orderly arranged layout, in a delicate way, combines classical styles with the architectural beauty of the new era.

▓　Planes
with terrazzo floor, pebble-dashed walls, brickwork with unique specs, and peculiar window shape designs, the square-shaped corridor breaks the traditional building layout that features an inverted U-shape courtyard. Large floor-to-ceiling windows placed where doors used to be invite natural light into the rooms.