Chapter 51 50, 798: From factory to art district

After 2002, the "798" Art Zone became a symbolic location of the upsurge of Chinese art. "Seven Nine Eight" is located in the Dashanzi area of ​​Jiuxianqiao Street, Chaoyang District, in the eastern suburbs of Beijing.It used to be a factory established in the 1950s. After 2001, artists continued to move into this abandoned factory building. Using the Bauhaus architectural style of the original factory building, after decoration, the factory building has been turned into individual studios. , gallery, cultural company, cafe or bookstore.The factory area occupied by the 798 Art District is the area of ​​6 factories, 706, 707, 718, 751, 797, and 798, which belonged to the former Ministry of Electronics Industry. This is also the source of the name "798".Seven Nine Eight has almost become synonymous with Chinese contemporary art, and it is also a successful example of commercializing art.In China, many big cities have started to imitate the move of 798. Artists search for abandoned factories and turn them into art districts. The government and companies also regard it as an example of developing the cultural industry.

No one thought that the most glorious period of a factory built in the 1950s would come almost 50 years later in another century, but the use has completely changed. The factory had high hopes right where it was built.It is one of the 156 key projects of the first five-year plan formulated by the new Chinese regime following the Soviet development model. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the establishment of a new regime on the Tiananmen Gate Tower, and the Communists began to plan for the recovery and development of the country's economy.As the first step in economic development, it is very important to obtain the support of socialist countries that are in the same camp as themselves.For this reason, the central economic officials headed by Chen Yun revised the "First Five-Year Plan" three times according to the simplicity of the Soviet Union's big brother.High-level CCP officials including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, and Chen Yun visited the Soviet Union successively to obtain assistance from the Soviet Union and socialist camp countries for the industrialization of the Chinese Communist regime.

This factory is located in the Jiuxianqiao area with no industrial foundation in the eastern suburbs of Beijing.It was named the North China Radio Equipment Joint Factory (also known as the 718 Joint Factory), which was jointly established by the former Soviet Union and East Germany with the help of China.Since East Germany has always been a leader in the electronics industry in the socialist camp, East German engineers basically undertook the heavy task of building this factory.A later document stated that in order to build this factory, “East German Vice Chancellor Ersner personally took command and used the technology, experts and equipment production lines of all East Germany to complete the project. Because East Germany does not have the same scale. factory, so Ersner organized authoritative experts from 44 institutes and factories in East Germany to set up a 718 joint factory engineering support team, and finally gathered the power of the electronics industry in East Germany, including technology, experts, and equipment production lines to complete this project. A grand project with utopian ideals. Li Rui, the first factory director of the 718 Joint Factory, said in his recollection article: "I have seen more than 20 factories in Germany, and no single factory has such a scale. As far as I know, in the Soviet Union Factories of this size are also rare in countries of the other blocs of socialism.’”

The architectural office responsible for the design of the 718 joint factory is located in the same city as the Bauhaus school, and is deeply influenced by the Bauhaus style.Therefore, the factory has a typical Bauhaus style: practical, concise, clear and flexible.The designed and built factory buildings can withstand earthquakes of magnitude 8 or above; the construction uses strong 500-grade building bricks; there is another unique feature that was emphasized when the factory was reused later, that is, the buildings The windows faced north, not south, as was the custom at the time, and an article describing the factory explained that the north-facing design "makes the best use of natural and reflected light, helping to keep the interior light even and steady, And from the perspective of visual experience, constant light can produce an indescribable beauty.”Later, the famous 798 factory was the third branch of the 718 joint factory.

Later, in the "Cambridge History of the People's Republic of China", the historian commented: "Measured from the perspective of economic growth, the first five-year plan (1953-1957) was an astonishing success. National The average annual growth rate of income is 8.9%, and the average annual growth rate of agricultural and industrial output is about 3.8% and 18.7%.” And these 156 core investment projects are the top priority of the First Five-Year Plan, “These projects have almost absorbed the first half of all industrial investment in a five-year plan". But for the 718 Joint Factory, this industrial glory did not last until the new century.Every era has its different themes.When formulating the First Five-Year Plan, the planners deliberately avoided those southeast coastal areas that already had a certain economic foundation. However, after 1978, the planned economy no longer became the theme of the times. Instead, after the reform and opening up, it occupied the geographical The advantageous southeastern coastal areas and southern cities have become the darlings of economic development.Those former pioneers, those factories that have already been built, if they cannot receive the continued support of the state, and their own fortunes are bad, their fate can only sink like Tiexi District, until they wait for a new life. The 718 joint factory and its third branch factory 798 should be considered lucky among them.Because they inadvertently stepped on a springboard bearing another theme.

In April 1964, the higher authorities canceled the establishment of the 718 Joint Factory, and established the 706 Factory, 707 Factory, 718 Factory, 797 Factory, 798 Factory and 751 Factory. In December 2000, the six factories of the original 718 joint factory, including the 798 factory, were integrated and reorganized into a state-owned company called Beijing Qixing Huadian Technology Group Co., Ltd.After the integration, a large number of factories including the 798 factory were idled.The owner Seven Star Group began to rent out these plants one after another. In February 2002, a special tenant entered 798.This is considered to be the beginning of the transformation of 798 into an art district.Robert, an American, sent his wife who works in Nestlé to work. He passed the 798 factory every day, and gradually developed a good impression of this Bauhaus-style building.So, he decided to rent a house here, "this place is much better than those office buildings", he said briskly when recalling.But at that time, it was not so brisk, because although many workshops of Factory 798 were empty, the property management company was only willing to rent the former Muslim cafeteria to this American. "The walls are full of oil, the roof is dark, and the interior is dirty Chaos again," said a later report.The rent was not expensive, only sixty-five cents per square meter—later the rent in Factory 798 rose to four or five yuan per square meter.

Robert renovated the 120-square-meter Huimin sugar and turned it into a store in front and a company in the back.The shop is later known as the modern art bookstore.Robert was doing work related to Chinese art at the time, and among the people he interacted with were many contemporary artists from mainland China.In this way, through Robert, they got to know 798.More and more artists have begun to relocate their studios here, because it is cheap, empty, and easy to get together. Huang Rui also moved to 798 after this.This contemporary artist, later regarded as the leader of 798, had just returned from Japan at that time, and he wanted to find a factory space in Beijing as his residence and studio.Later, he described to a reporter how he felt when he first arrived at 798: "It was very dark inside. It was early spring, at 6 o'clock in the evening, there was a little light coming through the dirty windows, the place was full of dirt, and there were several An old machine, I especially like the arc of this kind of house—the most beautiful curves are arcs. Entering this space, there is no choice.” He also found the uniqueness of this place as an artist’s colony: “ 798 is the largest industrial heritage of Beijing, the newest city with the oldest civilization.” Although some artists, including the sculptor Sui Jianguo, had already put their studios here, 798 became a place where artists and galleries gathered on a large scale It's going to be a while longer.Later, an art critic named Fang Zhenning described how 798 became a place where galleries and studios gathered together: "One day at the end of October 2002, a Beijing-Tokyo Art Project co-operated by a Tokyo gallery dealing in Asian contemporary art and artist Huang Rui The gallery held an opening reception at 798, which attracted more than a thousand people from the Beijing art circle. Suddenly people found that it would be very fashionable to transform this Bauhaus-style industrial building into a gallery Good idea. At that time, the rent was so cheap that you couldn’t imagine it. The price per square meter per day was only about RMB 40. Therefore, in just over half a year, a large number of galleries and artist studios, as well as coffee shops and art bookstores, etc. appeared. .”

It’s just that things are so impermanent. When the area finally prospered and rich people, whether local or out-of-town, began to hang out in 798’s galleries and artist studios to buy paintings, the voices about 798 being too commercialized again Start to appear.And most of the people who worry about it are the occupants.What amazed them even more was that this area was able to attract guests from all over China and even the world in such a short period of time, which would make some of them smug—because it put them in a spotlight, and it would also make them feel complacent. Others feel uncomfortable - because the change is so rapid.

The earliest residents of 798, Hong Huang, a media person, said in an interview that the rapid change of 798 "from a particularly dilapidated place to a place where everyone is investing" made her feel "distorted": "Commercialization like SOHO is an inevitable development process. SOHO was completely commercialized from the 1970s to the 1990s, but it was almost three years in 1970s and 1980s. Now Nike has come in, and here is the rent. The highest guest is here to make an exhibition hall. If its commercialization and government campaigns are compared with our personal power, its power is too great. 798 will suddenly become a sports headquarters, and then Become a commercial place." SOHO is an artist-in-residence area in New York, and later became one of the most prosperous commercial areas.Later media always like to compare 798 with SOHO when referring to 798 which has become an art district.The prospect of such commercialization makes artists somewhat uncomfortable, even though it will bring them huge commercial benefits, allowing them to afford luxury cars and spacious homes. "Now there is not a single gallery there, let alone a studio. Now they have all turned into high-end apartments and brand stores. Just like the flow of art districts in China from Yuanmingyuan, Shangyuan, Songzhuang to 798 in recent years, art districts abroad It is also constantly changing. It is always easy for the commercial society to absorb the fruits of art.” When Huang Rui talked about SOHO, he seemed to be talking about 798.

In addition to the unstoppable trend of "commercialization", Huang Rui also has his own worries.That is, after the Beijing Municipal Government announced in 2006 that 798 was planned as a creative park, artists represented by Huang Rui began to have disputes with the park's managers.At the beginning of 2007, the manager of the Creative Park gave Huang Rui an ultimatum to let the artist, whose lease had expired, move out of the park.Huang Rui’s worry is that the owner and management will move 798 to a community with a more commercial atmosphere by letting the artists whose contracts have expired move out and rent out at a higher rent.

But fears that the art park would eventually disappear were quickly dispelled.Because more and more galleries began to enter 798—it is still very commercialized. Those who enter 798 are no longer unknown artists who covet the cheapness and spaciousness here, but well-known international galleries and companies. The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, which opened at the end of 2007, is one of them.Huang Rui does not welcome this change: "This is a dangerous signal. The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art has strong financial strength, so it can search for all the works of art it wants. I don't know if they are helping real artists. .” But this change was inevitable.This is China speed.And tensions between artists and businesses will remain.This relationship is really strange. It is business that brings fame and money to these artists. These originally poor artists cannot do without business, but deep down they worry that business will eventually swallow them or abandon them.