The Taiwanese Minister of Culture with MVRDV's Design Team and Literature Museum management  © MVRDV

In 2024 it will be 400 years since the Dutch had their first encounter with Taiwan, then still known as Formosa. To mark this anniversary, the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) – Asia's largest book fair – has named the Netherlands as “Country of Honour”. Architecture firm MVRDV has been selected to design the pavilion and shape the fair's content. Besides an extensive event programme, there will also be an exhibition reflecting the fair's themes of inclusivity, (post)colonialism, and sustainability, and children’s literature.

From 20 to 25 February 2024, Taipei will be entirely dedicated to Dutch literature. Marking the 400th anniversary of the first encounter between Taiwan and the Netherlands, the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, has declared the Netherlands “Country of Honour”.

Architecture firm MVRDV has been selected to design the pavilion which, like previous editions of TIBE, is expected to attract in excess of 500,000 visitors over six days, 470 publishers from 32 countries will attend. The pavilion will measure approximately 500m2. In addition to an area for matchmaking between Dutch, Taiwanese and other international publishers, the pavilion will feature an exhibition with space for reflection on (post)colonialism, inclusivity, and the history of Formosa, with facsimiles of original documents showing how diverse the island has been since ancient times.

A delegation of leading Dutch writers will travel to Taipei on 20 February 2024, including Adriaan van Dis, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Hanna Bervoets, Alfred Birney, Joyce Bergvelt, Bibi Dumon Tak, and Maxim Februari. Illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing is guest of honour at the fair, given his long career and significance for Dutch children's literature, for which an important role will be reserved. The authors will interact with both Taiwanese readers and international book professionals through lectures, debates and workshops. Some of their novels have already been translated into Chinese, and the fair may lead to an even wider distribution of Dutch literature. 

“We are really looking forward to designing this pavilion”, says Jacob van Rijs, co-founder of MVRDV. “As MVRDV, we have extensive experience with temporary installations, from Hannover’s EXPO 2000 to our pavilion for the book fair in Bogotá. For the Taiwanese pavilion, we drew inspiration from Dutch literature in general and Dutch children's books in particular, which are known worldwide for their open-mindedness. Think of a surprising and attractive spatial installation in which the history of Taiwan, literature, and the children’s book come together in a sustainable way.”