Evolving together
Zhu told the Global Times that Chinese contemporary art has been developing for 30 years now, and 798 Art Zone's role over the last decade has been crucial.
"The zone grew rapidly between 2006 and 2008, when the art market in China exploded," he said. Galleries, museums and institutions, including several from overseas, swarmed into the area, making 798 Art Zone an international art district over a short period.
798 Art Zone is now synonymous with Beijing culture, attracting over 3 million visitors every year, 30 to 40 percent of whom are from abroad.
"798 Art Zone has provided the soil for Chinese contemporary art to grow in and links it with mainstream culture," said Zhang Guohua, deputy director of the Beijing Administrative Committee of 798 Art Zone.
Unlike other planned art zones, Beijing's 798 was built from the bottom up, which is why it is so full of vigor, Zhang said. Artists first began working in the empty 798 factory in the late 1990s, having been attracted by its Bauhaus-style architecture and low rent. Gradually, more artists, galleries and bookstores took up space in the factory over the years, during which tenants struggled to maintain their fledgling community until the government decided to make it a special zone for art in 2006.
"The art zone developed alongside Chinese contemporary art, which is now internationally recognized for its true reflection of Chinese society," said Zhang.
The price of success
798 Art Zone provides a platform for artists and people from all walks of life to interact, which Zhu says has allowed more people to learn about China's diversified forms of art and contributed greatly to art appreciation among the public.
"Meanwhile, the art zone quickened the pace of the commercialization of Chinese contemporary art," he said. "Housing over 200 galleries, the zone drove the rise of the gallery industry and the integration of art exhibitions and trade platforms."
The downside to this is that commercialization brings about utilitarianism and a fickle market, which has resulted in less provocative works of art, affecting contemporary art as a whole.
"Some works could be called pseudo-contemporary art because they lack serious artistic thought, deceiving those who don't know much about the genre," Zhu said.
As reflected in the poster exhibition, there is a noticeable trend toward commercialization.
"The overall environment for contemporary art is more open and tolerant than it was 10 years ago, but ironically fewer artists still engage in exploring avant-garde art," Zhu told the Global Times. "Now is the time to avoid temptation. This is the challenge for the current art world."
Zhang said that organizers of the zone have done their best to curb commercialization by thoroughly vetting galleries, organizations and shops that want to be part of the zone. He also added that external forces need to cooperate in order for the art world to move forward.
"Given the social value of contemporary art in terms of raising questions and criticism, it should play a bigger role in society."
To Zhu, it is not realistic to expect the commercial trend in contemporary art to change overnight. "The pendulum always swings back after it hits an extreme," he said, "and artists will again persist in their craft."
Source: Global Times
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