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facing page: 798 Art District, Beijing. Photo: Charlie Koolhaas
Nowadays there is a constant flow of curators, collectors and general art lovers drawing in three special events: an International Forum of New Media Arts;
(both international and local) who pass through the major cultural centres of Subliminal, a presentation of artistic projects by not-for-profit organisations; and
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, on the lookout for signs of a communist state a special exhibition of six major artists, including Kimsooja, Christian Boltanski
that goes ‘pop’. Many seem particularly interested in works that combine socialist- and Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, chosen by six international curators.
revolutionary realism with references to the rising consumer culture, which have
all become rather predictable and are constantly on display at the major art Besides offering opportunities to commercial galleries, China’s art industry is
districts that have been blooming like poppy fields across the cities. The most attracting some of the world’s major art museums. There are plans to build a
prominent of these is in Beijing and is known as 798. Guggenheim (either in Shanghai or Beijing) and rumours that branches of the
Pompidou Centre and Tate Modern will follow. In the lead-up to next year’s
Over the past few years 798 has been compared frequently with New York’s Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo in 2010, municipal governments in the
SoHo of the 1970s, and praised for its ingenious transformation of old factory two cities have also endorsed plans to build, respectively, 60 and 100 new
warehouses into loft-style studios and apartments. Beijing’s former base camp for museums. When plans for these museums were first announced little more than
experimental art now also hosts numerous commercial galleries, cafés and bars, three years ago, there were still doubts on whether they would contain any spaces
and has been called one of the most trendy art places in the world. In 2003 a local for contemporary art. No such doubts are being voiced today. Municipal
art historian of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Yin Jinan, was far more governments also endorse private institutions that focus their attention on
sarcastic about the nature of the district, stating that “798 is more like a cultural contemporary art. For example, the local government of Shanghai supported the
zoo”. There is growing discontent among members of the art scene in China, and Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA Shanghai), which is located between
the art landscape is in great need of an independent critical discourse. The the Shanghai Art Museum and the People’s Park, and funded by a Hong Kong-
curator Pi Li, who with Waling Boers recently set up the art space UniversalStudios- based jade merchant, Samuel Kung, who is also the acting director.
Beijing, has noted that critics are often paid by artists and their patrons to write
positive reviews of their work. The lack of criticism particularly corresponds with Chinese private investment in contemporary art institutions has become common
the need to supplement the current hype for Chinese art with more profound in recent years, as can be seen in the founding of the Zendai MoMA, situated in
and in-depth research on its past and present practices. a shopping complex in the new business area at Pudong and sponsored by the
largest property investment group in Shanghai, the Zendai Group. When I finally
Not too long after my ride in the Hummer I overheard a conversation between arrived there (after a 30-minute subway ride from the city, followed by a ten-
an American collector and his Chinese advisor in one of the cafés at 798. As minute taxi ride) the museum was closed for refurbishment. Upon further enquiry,
elsewhere in the world, it is not unusual for collectors to hire such advisors, who I learned that the Zendai Group had decided to lease its former front entrance
help them with translation and recommend artists. (Among artists in China they (which was located at street level) to a Watson’s beauty shop; as a consequence,
are sometimes called ‘art tour-guides’, after a performance by the Beijing artist the whole space was being renovated to allow for a new entrance on the first floor
Song Dong titled The Songdong Art Travel Agency Providing Art Tours and that could be serviced by a tiny elevator. When I asked the museum assistant if
Guides for Buying Art, for which he dressed in a yellow jumpsuit, carried a bullhorn the business of Chinese art may have been less lucrative than expected, she
and a yellow flag, and led people around the 1999 exhibition Supermarket, at started to smiled and then quickly composed herself, saying, “No, it will definitely
Shanghai Square Shopping Centre.) Over a latte and a glass of ice water, the be better in the future, and our space will be bigger and better than before.”
collector stated that he was very pleased with one of his purchases, a portrait of
Mao Zedong made out of the phrase ‘AK-47’, by an artist whose name he couldn’t For now, at least, contemporary art and commerce continue to grow hand in
remember. He then went on to say that “Chinese artists have to understand that hand, creating a situation that can best be described as ‘the real (e)state of
in the West we don’t particularly like all the bright red being used in paintings, but contemporary art’. Back in Beijing, 798 clearly provides a commercial centre for
this seems to be much different here”. Different indeed. Aside from the traditional the fashionable marketing of contemporary popular culture (of which art is one
importance of red as a colour of fortune and prosperity, it conveys the broken part) that ultimately aims to beckon China’s ‘new rich’. During my visits to 798 I
spirit of the three main principles set forth in painting in the Cultural Revolution: had already noticed an overwhelming number of local residents were attending
hong, guang, liang (‘red, bright and shining’). Red, as the collector just seemed to the weekend openings, which included several large group exhibitions, book
be realising, is an intricate part of Chinese culture, and of Chinese art. He then launches, a performance festival and a Nike-sponsored basketball event.
took out his mobile phone and called a friend in the US: “Listen”, he said, “I just
visited some galleries in Beijing, and you were right – this place is hot!” As the artworld gears up for yet another round of biennials, quinquennials and
decennials – Moscow, Sharjah, Venice, Documenta, Münster – we can all be
In China contemporary art has become a booming industry, as becomes clear as assured that Chinese art will again be prominently displayed, despite the
well when looking at the abundant art fairs that are held each year, including the hesitations of some of the curators involved in organising these events. The fact
fourth China International Gallery Exhibition (CIGE 2007), held over three days remains that Chinese art is big business and it continues to attract large numbers
this month at the exhibition hall of the World Trade Centre in Beijing. It has of local and international audiences. In China many artists have become brand
received official approval from the Chinese Ministry of Culture, whose members names who produce trendy goods for the market. Beneath the surface of the
clearly had a say in the aspirational slogan for the event: Internationalization, marketplace there are, however, a growing number of artists who feel the need to
Standardization and Futurity (though it immediately reminded me of a three-tier alter these stereotypical images of Chinese art, and they should certainly be
phrase that I often hear used by some of the more critical members of the art supported through independently curated exhibitions that involve more elaborate
scene in China: Jia, Da, Kong – ‘Fake, Big, Empty’). Nevertheless, CIGE 2007 is international exchange. Perhaps now is the time to move art out of the ‘cultural
promising to move beyond the usual boundaries of contemporary art in China by zoos’ it has created for itself and back into the open wilderness.
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