798

When China collectivized in the '50's, part of that meant reorganizing society in the most literal way. Production units were established. These might be schools, factories, or government departments. Everyone in the unit lived together in standardized housing, and the housing was located in an enclosed compound with the work spaces. These danweis often also included little stores, medical clinics, canteens, etc, so that people rarely left. Today, the danwei system has been pretty much chucked thanks to an elaborate series of reforms, but the infrastructure lingers.

Factory 798 in Beijing originally made electronics. Some smaller enterprises that work on that kind of stuff are still located in the old danwei, as is a bunch of privatized housing and a few stores. The majority of the factory space is abandoned, however. Artists have colonized the area and set up dozens of studios and galleries, so I went there today to check out the new 798, also called Dashanzi. Supposedly this is the very center of Chinese contemporary art.

The only graffiti you see in China is cell phone numbers sprayed on convenient buildings and walls, sometimes accompanied by a couple of characters. It's people looking for work, apartment for rent, and so on. I'm always hearing about how obsessed Chinese people are with hip hop, so I've been wondering where the hell the actual graf is at. Well, at 798 lots of those old factory walls are now covered in some amazing stuff! Check it out.







Here are some samples of other art that I saw, that I was impressed by. Like a jerk, I forgot to write down the artist's name. Actually, technically that makes me a thief. Argh.