798 Art District

Today I submersed myself in one of Beijing’s hippest district: 798 Art District located in the Dashanzi area, northeast of central Beijing. The number 798 refers to a defunct military factory aka factory 798. This kilometer-square block is actually an old factory district where a few years ago contemporary artists moved in. The 798 area has these stunning Bauhaus factory spaces (developed in the 1950’s by East Germans) that are being turned into art galleries, design studios and cafes. It has an urban lifestyle character similar to Soho in New York or Centre Pompidou in Paris. Several factories are still in operation, so the galleries have surreal surroundings. There are plenty of empty warehouses that are being opened as galleries and graffiti artists have plenty of walls to play with. In one of the small cafes I got to talk to the owner, a Canadian living in Taiwan for the last 15 years, and got my first introduction into the “art bubble” as the prices for the “Chinese” contemporary art are soaring. Investing in art is not really my calling but had fun talking to the guy, who calls himself an art nerd. At the end the paintings, photos and statues were ok (contemporary but not too shocking) but it was the architecture of the place and the way they remodeled the industrial complexes to house the galleries that was breath-taking.