Since the latest publishing of the Culture Policy White Paper 2018, Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture has been actively promoting the creative endeavours of young emerging artists by showcasing their work at high-profile shows in established museums locally and overseas. This institutional context of both the government and museums' involvement sets the stage for the development of a complex triangulation of interdependent relationships between the Taiwanese artist Zhang Xu Zhan, museums such as Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and the Ministry of Culture. The tremendous influence that cultural policies and exhibiting institutions can have on artists leads to the question of the extent to which artists can express themselves authentically or unabashedly, without undermining their own careers or vision.

Zhang is an interdisciplinary artist who has a dual practice rooted in film and fine arts. Drawing on the theoretical framework from the museum critique over exhibiting cultures by various scholars, this dissertation offers a glimpse into how the artist skillfully negotiates this triangulation of power relations to advance his artistic practice without losing his own critical voice. I will argue that focusing on Zhang's oeuvre offers some insights into the shift in power that museums face in this triangulation and the top-down strategies the government has registered.