They say one man's trash is another man's treasure. An abandoned factory area has turned out to be the capital's emerging art haven. In Beijing's Dashanzi Art District, alternative artists are holding their own first art festival.
Seen from the outside, it's a rusty, dusty, deserted factory compound. But beyond the dark tunnel lies a whole new world.
Galleries, boutiques, book bars, music bars, and studios with a difference line the somewhat forbidding factory corridors.
Once known as Factory 798, it was designed by a German architect and built in the 1950's with money from the former Soviet Union. Two years ago, some contemporary artists leased many of the workshops of the declining semi-conductor factory. Now over 60 foreign and Chinese artists and 40 art groups have settled in at the Dashanzi Art District.
After two years of sporadic art activities, the artists decided to hold a festival. On Tuesday afternoon, they invited everyone who's interested.
Thomas J. Berjhuis, assistant curator of 1st Beijing Dashanzi Int'l Art Festival, said, "I think my target audience is mostly artists. But artists are the producers of the work. The audience is the target audience. The audience we wanna please, but we also want to give them a space where art becomes something you don't have to ask, for example, me all the time what it means. I'd like people to experience art. "
Radiance and Resonance , Signals of Time will kick off on April the 24th. The main course will be the audio and visual arts, with screenings of experimental and documentary films from Europe, Australia and Asia. Modern dance, performing art, architecture designs and so much more.
Expect the extraordinary and even the bizarre. We'll keep you posted on all its major events.
(CCTV.com April 15, 2004)
