Saturday night, in a Beijing bar, I met a Chinese girl, Sophie. She was there with a friend, taking pictures of the live band. She was really nice and after a little chat she invited me and the two girls who were with me to visit a new artists' area in Beijing. We gladly accepted.
On Sunday early afternoon, a warm, blue-skyed day, she picked us up at a underground station and drove us (yes, she's got a car!) to Songzhuang, roughly 30 kilometers from Tian'An Men Square.
On our way there, she explained us that the 798 Area has now become too expensive and chaotic for artists, so they decided to move somewhere else and picked this less inhabited area. Which, once those houses on construction will be completed, will not be as quiet as it is now.
The entrance to the area is pretty pretentious, a huge, brand new arch with the Chinese characters on it, but it clearly expresses the magnificent intentions of the creators.
In fact, the whole area is pretty big, two museums have already been built and others will come. Art galleries are hidden round every corner, new buildings are as fancy as they could be and statues lay as forgotten in the most unexpected and absurd places.
Sophie took us to her gallery, a three-storey flat with terrace, where her and her friends organize expositions and parties. In the entrance hall, some impressive pictures and on the third floor a calligraphy studio. Next to it, the house of a Swiss artist.
Paintings and pictures were hanging on every wall. Her friend (ponytail and leather jacket) greeted us with a traditional tea ceremony which highly impressed (if not scared) us.
After visiting their atelier, we moved on to an art museum, where guards with uniform and chignon watched over spacious white halls full of all sorts of contemporary artworks: pictures, short movies, paintings, statues, tile mosaics...
The next stop, an exposition with artist Liang Jianping included. The paintings were pretty scaring but the pictures of old smiling Chinese fully redeemed them.
After we had no luck in two different art galleries (even artists have a couple of days off at times) we headed towards the open-air market set up on the main road. It was already 5 p.m. so most of the sellers were gone but we could anyway admire some interesting pieces of art, art books, art faces. I'll let you decide about their originality.
At the end of the street, I stopped and start wondering. It was Sunday. It was a nice and warm day and we were strolling down an "art street", being stared at. We were enjoying the quietness of the surroundings. What will this place become in a few years' time?
If you are interested, Sophie and her friends' website is located at: http://tt3eyes.com/
Different and Larger Photos in the Italian Version of this Article: "Pechino Quartiere artistico di Songzhuang"
Chiara Braccagni
In 2007 Chiara Braccagni spent 4 months in Suzhou as an Italian teacher at the SuZhou Polytechnic Institute of Agriculture before returning to Italy to Graduate from college.
After graduating from Interpreter School (Trieste) she returned to China (Beijing) where she did further Chinese studies to gain Oral Proficiency. She is currently and temporarily working in the Italian Embassy in Beijing.
She likes to travel, explore and look for good excuses not to go back home.
Her articles appear in both Italian and English with larger Photos at KingsCalendar Stories from China
