Museums, once institutions of knowledge authority, have been assigned different values in contemporary times. Beyond continuing to translate knowledge through curatorial thinking, they also attempt to invite local communities to participate, and even initiate dialogue through physical spaces. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) conference to be held in Dubai in mid-November has anchored its theme as ‘Envisioning the Future of Museums in a Rapidly Changing Society,’ exploring how global museums respond to changing times. Among these, ‘House Museums’ that preserve family memories are receiving unprecedented attention due to their humanistic character and intimate scale—ICOM’s first-ever ‘International House Museums Day’ activity this year also highlights the key role of such venues in global cultural dynamics.

From Diagnosis to Dialogue

Located in the bustling area of Lukang, Chang-Yuan Hospital witnessed the dawn of modern medicine in the 1920s under Dr. Hsu Tu’s management, and was also the starting point where photographer Hsu Tsang-tse documented the faces of the era with film. The tables, chairs, doors and windows all bear carved traces of the Hsu family’s four generations of life. How can such a space, deeply imbued with personal sentiment, transcend the boundaries between private domain and public daily life to transform into a cultural venue that connects with contemporary social dynamics?

Conference paper “From Diagnosis to Dialogue: Reimagining a Doctor’s House as a Community Museum of Visual Memory” (From Diagnosis to Dialogue: Reimagining a Doctor’s House as a Community Museum of Visual Memory) focuses on the regeneration and operation process of Chang-Yuan Hospital, gradually attempting to establish a Heritage Ecosystem (Heritage Ecosystem). Unlike the linear process of a doctor’s diagnosis and prescription in the past, the reopened Chang-Yuan Hospital Lukang Historical Image Museum is now, in its capacity as a museum, initiating multi-directional and equal dialogues. The X-Basic team and the Hsu family have not only restored the tangible building spaces and furniture artifacts, but also through long-term companionship, cultural-historical translation, and diverse activity planning, have reconnected the relationships between the family and the old house, the old house and the community, the elderly and the youth, and even among the professional restoration teams.

Contemporary Propositions for World Museums

With Professor Li Chang-hsiang’s perspective, we are pleasantly surprised to discover that Chang-Yuan Hospital’s local practices naturally align with the three main themes of the ICOM Dubai Conference (preservation of intangible cultural heritage, youth power, and the rise of new technologies). This wasn’t deliberately planned, but rather naturally evolved form through practice:

❏ Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage: Beyond preserving tangible objects like stethoscopes or cameras, the ‘spirit of care’ in Chang-Yuan Hospital’s examination room, the family’s ‘resilience’ in facing changing times, and the reinterpreted ‘visual memory’ have now become the museum’s most resonant core through oral history and curatorial narratives.

❏ Youth Power: To prevent the house museum from becoming merely a relic for commemoration, Chang-Yuan Hospital attempts to attract people across generations through diverse spatial planning and activity organization; furthermore, through cross-disciplinary collaborations with contemporary building designers, musicians, and local teams, the old house has become a vibrant cultural hub.

❏ Rise of New Technologies: Chang-Yuan Hospital’s exhibition is not entirely static—through interactive projection installations of photos in the light sculpture exhibition space, visitors can not only appreciate Mr. Hsu Tsang-tse’s photography works but also have their own portraits projected onto the same wall, creating a visual dialogue with family memories that transcends time and space.

We sincerely thank Professor Li Chao-hsiang for using his academic perspective to provide clear theoretical coordinates for X-Basic team’s 7 years of cultivation, and for translating this land-rooted experience into a language that communicates with the world. ‘From Diagnosis to Dialogue: Reimagining a Doctor’s House as a Community Museum of Visual Memory’ will be formally presented on the afternoon of November 12, Dubai local time, in the session ‘The House Museum as a Witness to the Contemporary World’. Regarding the content of this international presentation, travel observations, and reflections, we will share with you through a series of articles after the conference. Please stay tuned to the X-Basic official website for follow-up reports.