Other Art Zones
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
As the government has detected a ‘soft power’ opportunity in Chinese art, and commerce has detected the possibility of profit, both are becoming more and more involved in the art scene. But many attempts to engineer successful art enclaves have been still-born.
Centrally located 46 Fāng Jiā Hútòng (方家胡同46号, near the Confucius Temple and Imperial College) is industrial space from the ’50s onwards that’s now exhibition space, theatre, and assorted arts and design businesses among a mixture of cafés, restaurants, and a modest hotel (although the locally labelled ‘great brickening’ of 2018–19 shuttered many of these).
The 9 Art Garden, or Jiǔchang International Art Garden (酒厂国际艺术区, Jiǔchǎng Guójì Yìshù Qū), despite the presence of galleries from Korea and Hong Kong and a number of satellite arts businesses in a former wine factory, is a slightly forlorn commercial enterprise, probably defeated by its location in far-flung Xīndiàn Lù (辛店路) just west of the Jīngchéng Expressway, walkable from m Wàng Jīng West (Lines 13 & 15). In theory there are major artists at work here, but they were not visible when visited for this guide.
The 22 International Art Plaza (苹果22院街) is an attempt to sell apartments on the back of art, although the Today Art Museum there is worth visiting. And the Peking Man Site, in a transparent attempt to make a profit from a money-losing attraction, also now claims to house an art zone with an auction house.
Next in Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond: Introduction to Villages, Rural Temples, and Scenery
Previously: Sòng Zhuāng Artists Village
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
