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Alternative Communities

From a distance Beijing’s various artist villages sometimes seem indistinguishable from the factory warehouses or countryside neighbourhoods that surround them. But within the walls of converted wine distilleries, renovated farmhouses or new artist “retreats” the creative energy of China’s avant-garde can be encountered.

Since the early 1990s, artists have developed these communities to participate in a rebirth of creativity in China. The original Yuanmingyuan artists’ village near the Old Summer Palace lured artists and post-revolutionary youths from around the country who generated a headquarters for political pop and cynical painting. Closed in 1995, the artists sought refuge in the famous “East Village” of Tongxian, which fostered the careers of many artists, including Fang Lijun, Zhang Huan, Ma Liuming, and brought contemporary Chinese art to the attention of the international vanguard. 

From these beginnings, artists have dispersed around the city developing relatively unknown districts into chic, sometimes bohemian, hotspots for contemporary art. The best known, the 798 Arts District in Dashanzi, was transformed from an electronics factory into a centre of international galleries, loft studios, furniture shops, and nightlife within five years. Other artists chose alternative villages in east or northeastern Beijing: Songzhuangcun, the East End Art Zone, Feijiacun, Suojiacun, Huajiadi, and the Erguotou winery. Responding to new Chinese realities, they are feeding the artistic appetites of international collectors and galleries in Beijing with world-class works that manifest the sometimes raw creativity of Chinese artists.

For more information on artists, exhibitions and galleries please mail to edit@btmbeijing.com