Thinking Globally and Locally in Beijing

BEIJING—It’s exhilarating to be in China these days, particularly Beijing. Practically the whole city is under construction, and trees and flowers are being planted every day along major streets and highways, no doubt to impress tourists expected for the Olympics. Yes, there is some discontent here and there about the games — the torch, human rights issues, and so on — but on the ground that all feels nominal in comparison with the local hopes of international stature and prosperity that come with hosting the world. There is so much desire in the air that it’s impossible to go about without feeling forgiving, if not delusional — even the notorious smog can almost be thought of as a kind of intense fog.

The large-scale makeover is being felt in the art world as well. In the most popular art district, Dashanzi, a former factory area also known simply as “798” after the building complex that once stood there, spacious white cube galleries are interspersed with skimpy labor tents, and construction workers walk around every day amid hundreds of gallery-goers. Repaving the streets, alleys, and sidewalks of 798 is part of the government’s citywide effort to create a slick Beijing in time for the games. While this could be read as one of many signs that the state acknowledges the stature the Chinese contemporary art scene has acquired, both locally and abroad, the government has yet to invest much in state-funded art museums. It is predominantly commercial galleries and artist-initiated spaces — the latter most often turned into commercial entities in a matter of months in order to survive — that present contemporary art in China, most of it by local or national artists.

In 2004, Wang Yihan, formerly director of Indonesia’s Soka Art Center, founded the China International Gallery Exposition (CIGE) with a vision of promoting “internationalism, professionalism, and futurism” in China’s contemporary art scene. The prospect of an international art fair for the city of Beijing sounded promising, and indeed, the inaugural edition left a strong impression. For its second edition, in 2005, CIGE lured major international galleries including Galerie Art: Concept from France, Galerie Christian Nagel from Germany, and Gagosian from the United States. However, like many other exhibitors, these high-profile dealers opted not to return the following year, and just what happened during and directly after the 2005 fair is still somewhat muddy.  

What is clear is this: CIGE’s original staff divided into two camps, one staying on and the other founding a second fair called Art Beijing. Since its launch, Art Beijing has explicitly claimed to be the premier international art fair in China, and although the list of participating galleries in past editions has yet to validate that claim, rumor has it that the third edition, taking place in September 2008 — will prove different.  

In the meantime, the fifth edition of CIGE, which took place April 25–28 at Beijing’s World Trade Center building, confirmed that fair’s international standing despite some unevenness in the stature of the exhibitors and the quality of the artwork. CIGE 2008 brought together 80 galleries from 22 countries, as well as a number of nonprofits and art institutions. For all its global aspirations, however, this year’s fair stood out largely for its focus on artists and galleries from Asia. This theme was most palpable with “Mapping Asia,” one of the five curatorial divisions of the fair, in which 33 emerging artists from Asia were each given a solo booth.

Two highlights were exhibitions by Indonesia’s Soka Art Center of homegrown artist Eko Nugroho and by China’s Vitamin Creative Space of Chinese artist Duan Jianyu. Nugroho’s display included paintings in bright, solid colors with bold brushstrokes and geometric lines, as well as a stunning tapestry piece about Indonesian society. Duan’s paintings, meanwhile, some including sculptural replicas of figures depicted in the works, are more subdued, presenting contemporary still lifes and village landscapes in subtle skin-tone and sandy colors. The works are dusty-looking, with diffuse blurring where figures meet ground.