Everyone visits 798. While I still agree this Beijing art venue is still the place for those looking to buy art, or to get the more European art-meets-cafe-meets-weekend out type experience. Caochangdi with its all Mandarin signs and fairly useless maps and twists and turns – presents the Bohemian way of life that we used to talk about in Europe, with a Commie twist.
Caochangdi is a more idyllic little setting away from the dirt and dust of Beijing, where rose bushes still line streets and many of the stone huton- style grey painted brick houses still lie abandoned, or “squatted on” almost. Go one way and you see gallery after gallery done in the same industrial warehouse style – which suggests like a lot of China – one was cool – and then the same architect was commissioned to do the rest as well.
Go the other way, and you see almost none. And instead you seem to travel for miles and miles along hutongs, filled with many workers who have come from the rural areas surrounding Beijing. This population fluctuates from less, when there are good harvests, and more when there are not. The official population is actually a pretty unofficial number.
We met 2 architects At B.A.S.E – an architectural camp and college of sorts, set up by 2 LA architects – Robert and Mary-Ann. Here, students come from the States and spend time exploring Caochangdi and talking to its many residents. Most come with no knowledge of Mandarin, and between body language and a translator they try and gain an understanding of the residents’ housing and the life these people live in villages like Caochangdi.
It is from them, over a nice Italian dinner and informal convo I was first introduced to the village and life there.
According to their research, acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei is credited with first turning Caochangdi into an artist’s haven ( he moved in and bought over some buildings and started to give them to artists to use as studios, and even set his own up here too). But we soon learnt of another female artist who was actually the first. She originally moved to Beijing, and having lived in her art college’s studio for months, stumbled on and then settled in Caochangdi, where she could take over a house and make it her studio.
Her story is similar to many of the residents: that while it was a roof over her head, her house, like most in the village offered no running water, no electricity and no private loo. She used to shower at the public loo, and for a period of 2 years till she made it, she ate meals of boiled hot dogs in packets and buns, because there was no gas or electricity and therefore no cooker (or lights to cook under).
The lack of typical urban facilities remains an issue to today. While galleries and foreigners like those at B.A.S.E, are recognised residents of Caochangdi and do register with the nearest police station/ with the government. The rest of the population remains unregistered and unaccounted for. Why? Because Caochangdi itself is not recognised as an official part of the Beijing municipality.
It is hard to believe, considering it is a mere 12 minute taxi ride from 798 ( here I was thinking with all this info, we would be driving to a village miles out of Beijing). But the lack of recognition remains an interesting point. The theory is that while it remains an issue that thousands upon thousands remain illegally in Beijing, if the village is recognised, the government is forced by law to then take care of it and offer it and its residents all the same privileges as the other citizens of Beijing. This means building a decent infrastructure to supply the village with all the basic needs of water and electricity, sewerage/ drainage, plumbing, gas / heating and so on. If they leave the village as is, in a way, everyone benefits. Housing can still be taken for almost nothing or free and no money needs to be sunk into its development.
Indeed, only the galleries who can afford to build their own structures and have generators, do enjoy the benefits of Beijing residency coupled with the tranquility of village life.
The result is a village with a certain surrealist quality to it. Bohemian as it may have been when the first artists moved in, it now seems a place caught between times. The galleries that sit there are sleek, industrial and clean cut. They are a mini suburbia – all identical, save for a few adjustments in a garden, window or entrance door.
Here the Lucerne/ Swiss Galerie Urs Meile, showcases Chinese artist Chen Hui’s strange young girls with old woman hooker looks and saggy boobs. While a few blocks down, Alex Ochs’ White Space gallery, stands out in its all-whiteness, and surprises with The Domus Collection – showcasing a Damien Hirst and 2 Anish Kapoor pieces. And across near doArt, one can’t decide what is more fascinating: the dark room, with paintings on glass that are backlit, or the fact that against the backdrop of a village, this gallery’s owner came driving out of the garage in his silver Ferrari with red leather interiors, blowing smoke rings from a lit Cohiba. (He was joined minutes later by two friends driving up in, what else, but a Hummer and Bentley.)
Like with most things here that have come to shock, surprise and charm me – my response is “only in China.”
Caochangdi's suburbia of grey art houses
Alexander Ochs 'White Space' - the only all-white gallery
doArt's courtyard gallery and cafe
Links:
B.A.S.E- http://www.basebeijing.cn/
Caochangdi: Beijing Inside Out - http://tinyurl.com/loay5h
Galerie Urs Meile - http://tinyurl.com/ksozd7
Alexander Ochs - http://tinyurl.com/nmpld6
doArt -http://doartchina.com/en/upcoming.html