An afternoon at the 798
Currently in the 798 Dashanzi Art District, several galleries are the home of the 798 Beijing Biennale. It's the first one, so I think it is a little ambitious to call it a Biennale until after the second show, two years from now, when they can show that yes, it is a Biennale. The Carnegie's Big International Show is called, well, the International, and it makes its appearance every two or three years. See? No definite commitment to schedule.
The 798 district is an old industrial area of state-owned factories that have been converted into artists' studios and gallery space. It's a concept that other Chinese cities are copying, hoping to have the same success as 798. In Shenzhen we had the OCT LOFT.
This was our first venture into the 798, and since we couldn't get our hands on an Art Map, we just wandered around trying to find the venues that were participating. We got to a couple of the so-called satellite venues, but not the main part. Maybe this week I'll try again with the kids and without Randy. He's not that thrilled to try to drive there again.
One really has to be committed to the art to navigate the labyrinth of alleys.
One piece that I was hoping for Myles to see, though not part of the Biennale, was Ai WeiWei's World Map.
When we came upon the main entrance to the gallery, we learned that the gallery was open only to members of a particular expat club. We weren't foreign or connected enough to enter.
Of course, this is a commercial gallery, and they can open and close at will and by invitation whenever they want. It isn't a civic establishment. And it was only one day. But here's a Chinese artist who is also known for his activism, and on this particular day we couldn't see his art because we weren't elite enough (let alone any local Chinese person)---it just amused me a little bit. Maybe I'll incorporate into some metaphor for life in China in the early 2000s sometime.
The 798 district is an old industrial area of state-owned factories that have been converted into artists' studios and gallery space. It's a concept that other Chinese cities are copying, hoping to have the same success as 798. In Shenzhen we had the OCT LOFT.
This was our first venture into the 798, and since we couldn't get our hands on an Art Map, we just wandered around trying to find the venues that were participating. We got to a couple of the so-called satellite venues, but not the main part. Maybe this week I'll try again with the kids and without Randy. He's not that thrilled to try to drive there again.
One really has to be committed to the art to navigate the labyrinth of alleys.
One piece that I was hoping for Myles to see, though not part of the Biennale, was Ai WeiWei's World Map.
When we came upon the main entrance to the gallery, we learned that the gallery was open only to members of a particular expat club. We weren't foreign or connected enough to enter.
Of course, this is a commercial gallery, and they can open and close at will and by invitation whenever they want. It isn't a civic establishment. And it was only one day. But here's a Chinese artist who is also known for his activism, and on this particular day we couldn't see his art because we weren't elite enough (let alone any local Chinese person)---it just amused me a little bit. Maybe I'll incorporate into some metaphor for life in China in the early 2000s sometime.
Comments