Peek into Beijing's contemporary art boom
For anyone serious about contemporary art, a pilgrimage to Factory 798 (also known as Dashanzi Art District) is a must. Constructed in the 1950s, this compound was a joint venture between East Germany and China, accounting for the Bauhaus aesthetic of its structures. After years of decline, these factories got a new lease on life when Central Academy of Fine Arts professors rented them out as studios in the early 2000s. Artists and other creative organizations followed. As early as 2004, the area boasted 100 art galleries, and two years later, Factory 798 was deemed an official “art and culture district.”

Any tour of 798 should include a visit to Galleria Continua. The gallery's current group exhibition, Unmoved crosses bumper cars with Madame Tussaud-esque wax figures in “Retirement Home” by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. The installation's hyper-real human figures, fashioned after elderly men in electric wheelchairs, meander randomly, bumping into each other. It is a quirky and entertaining take on age discrimination.

Further inside the alleyways of 798 is Long March Space, named after the famous 12,500km Red Army retreat and started as a foundation and not-for-profit. The massive gallery's current exhibition Mother's!!! is a solo show from Lin Tianmiao, one of China's top name female artists. Voluptuous yet bare, the white sculptural figures address various facets of female identity and objectification.

One of the district's relative newcomers, Tang Contemporary was established in 2006. Befitting of the Olympic period, the current show, International Kebab, offers food for thought in the form of more than 25,000 photo images by Wang Du, stacked and speared like a kebab in the middle of a room. Visitors are invited to take a knife to the kebab and slice off bits and pieces of photos.

798 is the heart of China's contemporary arts scene. Any introduction for the Olympic visitor, or even local expat looking to get in on high culture in Beijing, begins here.

Xiao Hu