Our last day in Beijing was the day of my first encounter with the magic number of Chinese contemporary art. 798 Art District is the happening venue of Chinese art. With only a piece of paper scribled of the address and my limited Mandarin, we arrived at a cold mid day. The cold seeped through our thin jackets and the luggage that we carried did not help us to warm our shivering bodies.

The site was built as a complex of factories during the fifties and designed by engineers from Germany in Bauhaus style. At that time, chairman Mao Tzetung was in reign and he wanted Chinese industrial development to move forward in fast pace. Cultural Revolution had tried to convert Chinese society from agricultural to industrial based country to Soviet Union, and tried to develop ‘classless society’, where all people work in the same level as education and working ‘background’.

The reuse of old factories in 2002 to art district, art society as a gallery. The combination is quite unique, with the outside appereance of industrial site complete with chimneys, rusty pipes, but on the inside you will find completely different, which is coziness and modern Chinese art. Each of the buildings are naturally lit to create a minimum, because of most the orientation to the north. Also with the characteristic of big rooms and adopting arch form or strong curved line and repeated in big scale. Tunnels between galleries are connected to create an image and lighting inside an old factory, yet it still stood out as an art gallery and not just an old ran down building.

Starting on the north gate, the view we are facing are rows of old buildings with steam coming out of their chimenys. The road was heading east and those exterior forming an unforgetable freeze frame in my mind. This is exactly what an industrial complex should look like, and yet the signage made us realize that we are not in the 50s and contextually we are in the ground of art expressions.

Some of the art installations are explicitely performed outside, for example this statue, representing our realities today, how our real self are hidden behind bars and our consciousness are always compromized.

From many revitalized buildings, my favorite was this restaurant, that change its façade using metal clad as to contrast itself to its surrounding and yet not forget to regard its context.

What I found also quite interesting is the way they treated the passage ways, as to let the history speak it self at the same time accomodating the newness of the gallery. (Photo 4) Or the way they put lighting to emphasize entrance to a gallery and make use of interesting signage designs. (Photo 5)

At the end of a passage way I found a space where special events are usually being held, here the arch character of the old architecture is showing the exposure of a strong bulk design that was the beauty and at the same time the structure of the building.

At the end of the day, we concluded our journey that day with a cup of latte machiatto in a warm café just on the side of the main north street of the complex. An ending of a wonderful insight day, where art appreciation are combined with the architecture touring, which is a feast to my eyes.

Address :

No.4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, dari Dong Zhimen, bus 402, 418, 909, 688, halte Wang Yefen.

More info on:

http://www.798space.com