Three years ago, Juv. Art Center hatched in a 40-square-meter location amidst the lanes and alleys of Ma­gong, ­Penghu. When its doors first opened, it was simply a welcoming exhibition space, but this little chick has continued to grow. Three years later it has matured into a combination bookstore, exhibition space, cafe and lecture theater.

Oddly the “parents” of Juv. Art Center are neither ­Penghu natives, nor are their “regular” jobs related to the arts in any way.

Zhu Yunwei has made Juv. Art Center a solo-friendly experience, offering people a place to read and enjoy exhibitions without disruptions.

A feeling for the old-fashioned

Zhu Yun­wei is a 49-year-old native of ­Yingge, New Tai­pei City, where he still has his home. During his studies at National Ping­tung Institute of Agriculture, Zhu was a member of the school’s birdwatching club, which was the start of a lifelong love of all things avian. Later, as a graduate student at National Sun Yat-Sen University, he began studying ocean fish, his first step into the marine world. After that, he entered National Taiwan University to pursue a PhD and began to undertake marine surveys on commission. He also founded a marine technology company in Kao­hsiung, taking on more ecological monitoring cases and teaching courses at a few different colleges.

It was while teaching at ­Chang Jung Christian University that he met Deng Pei­zhen. A biotechnology graduate, the now-29-year-old Deng found herself fascinated by Zhu’s General Ecological Education program, studying in the program for the full four years of her undergraduate studies.

Originally from Hsin­chu, Deng was hired by Zhu in her senior year to work part time at his marine technology firm, often heading to ­Penghu with her colleagues to do monitoring and collect samples. Along the way, her knowledge and her interest both grew, and after graduating she joined the company full time as a surveyor.

Four years ago, to facilitate their operations, Zhu arranged for Deng to be stationed in ­Penghu, planning to lease an office in Ma­gong to more easily secure a government project they were tendering for. At first Zhu was very optimistic, signing a five-year contract for a space costing NT$3,000 a month in rent.

But when the results of the tendering process were announced the next year, Zhu and company found themselves out of luck. While that in itself was no concern for Zhu, he couldn’t leave the space they’d rented idle, so he decided to convert it into an environmentally themed exhibition space, naming it Juv. Art Center and making Deng the manager.

The process of setting up Juv. Art Center also helped Zhu understand the ­Penghu frame of mind. Every three months he would come to ­Penghu for surveys, and over the course of more than a decade he began to really develop an attachment to the islands, sparked by nothing more than an old doorway.

Back in 2010, as he was riding from Ma­gong Airport into the city, Zhu’s eyes were drawn to the old buildings that lined the road. One pair of old wooden doors especially caught his eye; they were engraved with a four-character Chinese phrase, “guang tian hua ri,” meaning “the clear light of day,” and alluding to a period of incorrupt good governance.

Not only were the characters carved rather than being pasted up as a paper couplet, the choice of words was also intriguing, refreshingly unlike more clichéd choices such as “guo tai min an” (“peace and prosperity”). Grabbing his camera, he took a few photos and then went along his way. From then on, though, he began using his survey visits as opportunities to explore the islands for more doorways like that.

As he traveled around the islands of Penghu, he captured images of hundreds of such doors, accumulating over 3,000 images containing similarly classical, yet uncommon, choices of inscription.

In July 2012, Juv. Art Center opened its doors, with Zhu having arranged for the first exhibition to be one of photos of those old doorways, in the hopes of helping ­Penghu locals appreciate the spectacular place in which they live, while also helping build a relationship with those same locals.

That exhibition may have been the start of Juv. Art Center’s life, but what really sparked the center’s popularity was a series of talks it hosted on popular science and the environment.

Iland Books was Penghu’s first independent bookstore, and is run by Chen Aiwen, from Keelung. Independent doesn’t need to mean alone, as the friendly and supportive relationship between Iland and Juv. Art Center demonstrates.

Finding a niche

Zhu explains that in Penghu it is quite rare for any organization, public or private, to hold paid lectures, but Juv. Art Center does so regularly. While admission may be as much as NT$800, the talks still attract at least a dozen people, which has been a real source of encouragement for Zhu and Deng.

The talks given are on themes set out by Juv. Art Center, chosen with an eye toward issues that are both important and attractive to their niche market. By way of example, Deng points to a talk on pollution in ­Penghu Bay, the bay formed by the three main islands of the archipelago. This talk, given by an invited expert, attracted over 20 people, which not only filled Juv. Art Center, but had people sitting by the door, and even out onto the street!

The success of these talks provided Zhu with a means to connect his main work (ecological surveys) and his side business (Juv. Art Center) harmoniously. This marked the second stage in Juv. Art Center’s growth.

Juv. Art Center’s emotional ties to Penghu began with photos of an old doorway with an unusual inscription.

Haven’t read it? Won’t sell it!

The third stage in Juv. Art Center’s process of growth was to become a bookstore.

Two months after Juv. Art Center opened, ­Penghu saw the opening of its first independent bookstore, Iland Books. Chen Ai­wen, Iland Books’ owner, hails from Kee­lung, and is a writer by trade. Originally she came to ­Penghu for a working holiday, but during her stay she found that there were no “real” bookstores where one could find a book, sit down, and read in peace. And so she set about asking her friends and family for second-hand books and opened her own bookstore in ­Penghu.

Located just a few streets apart in Ma­gong City, the teams at Juv. Art Center and Iland Books soon learned of each other’s existence. With Chen a proponent of environmentally friendly agriculture and Zhu advocating for protection of the marine environment, each found in the other a fellow traveler, and soon the two stores allied, each supporting the other.

“Grab some books, we’ll help you sell them at Juv. Art Center.” Such was the suggestion an enthusiastic Zhu made to Chen two years ago, and so did Juv. Art Center suddenly find itself in the bookstore business. Not only did Juv. Art Center begin helping Iland Books move second-hand books, they also began selling new books specifically on ecology and popular science.

Juv. Art Center isn’t a bookstore per se, says Zhu, but rather sells books on these two areas out of a sense of responsibility to spread knowledge. “Every book we sell is a title we’ve read ourselves, because only that way can we really talk with the customers about what’s inside them,” he says.

Zhu Yunwei has made Juv. Art Center a solo-friendly experience, offering people a place to read and enjoy exhibitions without disruptions.

Realizing a dream through hard work

From starting as a simple exhibition space to becoming a hybrid cultural space, Juv. Art Center has been in a constant state of evolution and reinvention. But even so, there are two thorny issues that Juv. Art Center continues to struggle with.

The first is that, while Juv. Art Center has accumulated a regular audience for their talks of 20 to 30 people, most of those people are “outsiders” like Zhu, people in ­Penghu for work or military service. “We’ll always be outsiders,” says Zhu, “but we also need to think about whether or not we’ve done enough to integrate into the grassroots of the community.”

The good news is that this year the Ministry of Culture accepted Juv. Art Center’s grant application, and in the latter half of the year Zhu plans to start operating a “book­mobile” that will travel around ­Penghu. The book­mobile will stop off at temples around the islands, inviting local residents to share in the pleasure of reading through books from Iland Books while also enjoying Zhu’s photography of ­Penghu’s old doorways.

The second issue Juv. Art Center has to face is a more practical one: the store can be open all day and have basically no-one come in, putting it under pressure to make ends meet.

Zhu and Deng have come up with an idea to help address this: the store is only open for the last two weeks of every month, with Deng carrying out contracted ecological survey work for the other two weeks.

“Ever since Juv. Art Center hatched, I’ve never even thought about another job,” says Deng. Despite the challenges, she remains positive: “I’m confident Juv. Art Center will be able to survive; we just need to find the right direction.”

Constantly experimenting with new possibilities has been quite an experience for Deng, who believes that ­every little attempt helps bring the dream of Juv. Art Center closer to full-fledged reality. One such experiment has been the publication of the magazine JuvArt, which has also inspired Juv. Art Center to branch out into book publishing. Their debut title is a book on the terns of ­Penghu, written by Zhu and illustrated by Deng. Everything in the book is absolutely accurate, says Zhu proudly, and even though the illustrations are cartoony, they nonetheless correctly portray the characteristics of the terns.

Every little bird must ultimately grow up, and as for Juv. Art Center’s future, Zhu says he has no set expectations, focusing only on the need to make dreams into reality through action. “We can’t know where the future might take us, but what we can do is look at the new ideas the future brings and try to put them into practice.”

No matter how many stages of growth Juv. Art Center may need to go through, this fledgling enterprise is absolutely adding color and passion to Penghu.