Manufacturing Art

by Liu Haile Uncredited

Cavernous concrete ceilings， vintage brick walls， obsolete machinery， and mazes of pipelines… The remains of a once-bustling factory that went dark during the economic transformation of Beijing regained life when artists swarmed into the industrial compound and transformed it into the 798 Art Zone， known as a “cradle of contemporary Chinese art.”

Genesis

The bones of 798 Art Zone in northeastern Beijing are relics from North China Radio Equipment Joint Factory built with help from East Germany in the 1950s. When the city began transforming drastically in the 1990s， many manufacturing enterprises were pushed out of the city proper. The radio factory was no exception， and it left behind many large empty work- shops and warehouses.

In 2002， American Robert Bernell moved his Timezone 8 Art Books shop into a former factory cafeteria. Later， attracted by the old factorys spacious structures， low rent， and unique Bauhaus-influenced architectural style， more and more artists began creeping in， refurbishing the former factory into studios and galleries. Most of the earliest settlers chose the former Factory 798， inspiring the art zones name.

In fact， the trend of art districts sprouting from old factories can be traced back to the 1970s in the West. When developed countries like the United States and France entered the post-industrial era， a large number of factories and warehouses went vacant. Such structures easily win favor from artists for their spaciousness， low rent， and unique atmosphere， and many have gradually developed into art zones.

Zhang Guohua， executive vice president of the 798 Art Zone Administrative Committee， regards the rise of the art zone as an inevitable phase of the culture sector along with Chinas social development. “The earliest settlers in the art zone， including Sui Jianguo and Hong Huang， had lived and studied in foreign countries，”he explains. “They advocated the modern SOHO and loft styles that Western artists were already embracing. After decades of reform and opening-up， China has formed a social ambience fostering cultural freedom， and contemporary art began to boom in the country around the turn of the 21st Century. When artists studying abroad returned to China， they were happy to discover that the spacious workshops and comparatively quiet environment of Factory 798 met their ideals. Gradually， the area became an art zone.”