A legend of art and space 

cctv.com 03-24-2005 17:30

The State-owned factories housed in the massive Bauhaus style buildings, including Factory 798, have a history tinged with glory. Walking around, it is quite possible you will bump into model laborers, whose stories are often retold by proud fellow workers. But like many of its contemporaries, this electronics factory is suffering from a shrinking number of contracts and soaring unemployment. The machines are still running, but not like before.

The colorful decorations and posters, the newly constructed glass and steel betray the owner. Who lives behind the closed door and windows? Why do they come here?

Let’s start with the sculptors, too. In 1995 some of them discovered that the noise generated by their work wasn’t so intrusive inside the factory area, and that the space was perfect for their massive creations.

Mr. Sui’s recent work is dressing classical Greek statues up in Chinese Chung-shan suits, named after the former politician Sun yet-san. He showed us another piece, made a Chinese stir in Paris last year, the red dinosaur.

“Made-in-China” is actually made in this factory where Mr. Sui’s students and followers are still working hard on various projects. All dream to follow in his footsteps. Fifty years after its construction, the factory is producing not only electronics, but also hope and a legend of arts.

On a bright summer day, Xiong Wenyun, an artist hired by five colleges, four in China and one in Japan, comes to the construction site of her new studio. According to her blueprints, the place will be turned into a 50 square meter art complex that includes a gallery, studios and separate homes for three artists.

Her works include “Moving Rainbow” to Tibet, “kong kong”,

And perhaps there is more to come when this studio is finished.

Huang Rui has fitted his home with decorations made from everything imaginable: a deserted machine, a millstone, even the sun and moonlight—which he refuses to block out with curtains.

Huang Rui uses this place to the fullest. Transformed by his design, the tree trunk becomes a perfect bench, the 100 square meter room is divided into a tea house, a spacious studio and a kitchen, a comfortable bedroom and a living room. Isn’t it magic?

Voiceover10: Not only humans are enjoying this place. Take for example, the three birds living Chen Lingyang’s apartment. Does their chirping inspire her? Is their freedom to fly as they please echoed in her work, which expresses a longing for release? The artists’ mind is unfathomable.

Painters, photographers, performance artists, critics, curators, all housed by the factory for the last year. It’s their private space, the space cut out for their lives, their work, their imagination and their art. Some of them are well known, some are not, but all are working hard here. Maybe their efforts will be enough to make history for neighboring studios.

Factories can be found everywhere, so what makes 798 so special?

Visitors are always struck by the huge red characters inscribed on the wall: “Long live Chairman Mao and Long Long life”, “Chairman Mao is the red sun in our hearts”. Slogans and quotes bring you back 30 years.

Another evident feature is the green machines, preserved by the artists, who haven’t moved them an inch. The factory was built with the former Soviet Unions’ help, and designed by German architects.

Besides the red slogans and green machines, there are still workers scattered across the complex.

They are the former owners of the place and the first visitors to the galleries.

However, the public the art area hopes to attract is not only workers, but also people from all over the city, the nation, and even the world.

Many exhibitions were shut down by the outbreak of SARS. When the epidemic came to an end, media coverage started bringing in more visitors. Foreigners and local Chinese, not all of them art experts, but all willing to have a look and to try to understand.

This exhibition is named “Black Taboo”, by the artist Shi Qing. Wearing the cloak of new media, he hopes to put forward a theory: the body always evolves through aberrance into alien forms. Pretty hard to understand, but it’s pretty impressive anyway.

If that exhibition is too deep, let’s talk about a simpler one.

(SARS)

On May 24th, when SARS was still rampant in the capital city, artists organized a kite-flying activity that included some different exhibits. Thousands of citizens turned up for the event. How did it attract so many people?

Can the audience really understand what a piece of art is trying to say? This piece is called “release.” The artist recalls how one visitor, a SARS nurse, reacted to it on that day.

Chinese Modern Art is still little understood here. But outside of China it has started to win recognition.

Art lives on imagination, but artists live on bread. While art studios are scattered around the area, bars and cafes are starting to crop up too. Because of the unique factory setting, they have become quite popular. Apart from the ordinary bar hopper looking for a drink and a good crowd, journalists also use the place to interview entertainers, and TV and movie directors choose it as an interesting shooting location.

Take a walk around, and in ten minutes, you will walk past a club, a high-tech company, furniture shops, a bookstore, a design Company, and more. They all have a reason to be here.

Art is transformed into a business vehicle, for good or bad. To attract and absorb an artistic ambience, this company opens a club, which became a gathering place for artists in the area. But the patrons are not only artists. See who else likes to come.

One worker used to be responsible for the whole 798 area

When the machines were still turning out electronics. Now he comes back to look at the menu and see if he would like to order a bottle of beer.

Next to the factory is a newly constructed apartment building for foreigners. People from the booming downtown area can make it here with a ten-minute drive. This makes popular clubs like Yan the latest destination for fun seeking people in the city.

Disco parties are held on a regular base here at Yan club. People will put down the money to enjoy life. The music and dance can blur the lines between commercial and artistic pleasure.

Soho and other art communities based in factory relics all experienced a more or less similar process: artists change the factory into studios and homes, then successful fashion retail companies rent it at higher prices, and eventually turn it into a shopping mall. Will it be the same for Da Shanzi?

But how do the artists prepare for the future?

People come and go, among them are artists, businesspeople, visitors, and more. But the legend of the factory and art, of what happened in this huge space may be remembered for years to come.

Editor:Hu  Source:CCTV.com