Historical Evolution of Dashanzi Art District

Speaking of the history of Beijing 798 Art District, we should start with the industrialization of new China. The place where Beijing 798 Art Zone is located is the "Beijing North China Radio Joint Equipment Factory" built during the first five-year plan period of New China, that is, the 7 18 joint factory. The 7 18 joint factory was approved by Premier Zhou Enlai personally, planned by Minister Wang Zheng, and established with the assistance of the former Soviet Union and the GDR.

1952 joint factory was built in Jiuxianqiao area, and there is no industrial base in the suburbs of Beijing. 1954 started civil works. 1957, state leaders attended the groundbreaking ceremony and announced the production. Its speed was rare in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which condensed the efforts of the older generation of leaders and builders. There are 774 factories and 738 factories jointly built by 7 18 in Jiuxianqiao area. The completion of these three factories not only changed the face of Jiuxianqiao area, but also formed the beginning of the great development in the history of China's electronic industry, and this pioneering role will always be recorded in the history of China's electronic industry. After the completion of the 7 18 joint factory, it has made outstanding contributions to the national economic construction, especially to the construction of electronic industry, national defense construction and the development of communication industry. 1in April 1964, the No.4 Machinery Department cancelled the establishment of the 7 18 joint factory and established the 706, 707, 7 18, 797, 798 and 75 1 factory directly under the Ministry. 7 18 joint factory is one of the key projects of 156 during the First Five-Year Plan period, and it is also one of the aid projects of Dongfang Group to China. Due to the leading position of the electronics industry in this camp, East Germany was given the heavy responsibility of building a joint factory. Oelssner, then Deputy Prime Minister of East Germany, personally took the lead and completed this project by using the entire East Germany technology, experts and equipment production line. Since there are no factories of the same scale in East Germany, Oelssner organized authoritative experts from 44 research institutes and factories in East Germany to set up a 7 18 joint factory project support team, and finally gathered the strength of the entire East German electronics industry, including technology, experts and equipment production lines, and completed this grand project with utopian ideals. Li Rui, the first director of the 7 18 joint factory, said in his recollection article: "I have seen more than 20 factories in Germany, and none of them has such a scale. As far as I know, factories of this size are rare in the Soviet Union and other countries in eastern bloc. "

An architectural organization in Dessau is responsible for the huge architectural design of the joint factory, which is in the same city as the Bauhaus school in that year, and the two are interlinked in architectural spirit. 19 19, Gropius established Bauhaus School in Weimar. Under the influence of abstract art, a new style of arts and crafts and architecture has been formed, whose main characteristics are: paying attention to meeting practical requirements; Give full play to the technical and aesthetic properties of new materials and structures; Simple modeling and flexible composition. On this basis, a new modernist architectural style was formed, which advocated adapting to the needs of modern large-scale industrial production and life, and was characterized by emphasizing architectural functions, technology and economic benefits, and was later called Bauhaus School.

The joint factory has a typical Bauhaus style and is a model of perfect combination of practicality and simplicity. Germans pursue high standards in building quality. For example, the seismic strength design is more than 8, while the standards of China and the Soviet Union were only 6 to 7; For another example, in order to ensure the firmness, 500 building blocks were used; In addition, the windows of the factory building face north, while the windows of ordinary buildings face south at that time. This design can make full use of the skylight and reflected light to keep the light uniform and stable, and from the visual experience, constant light can produce an indescribable aesthetic feeling. From June, 5438 to February, 2000, the original six companies, namely 700, 706, 707, 7 18, 797 and 798, were integrated and reorganized into Beijing Qixing Huadian Technology Group Co., Ltd., which was the first batch of high-tech enterprises recognized in Beijing and Electronic City Park. Due to the reorganization of the original six factories, some properties are idle. In order to make full use of this part of the property, Qixing Group rented out these factories one after another.

In February, 2002, Robert, an American, rented a 120 square meter Huimin canteen here and transformed it into a company with a front shop and a back office. Robert works as an art website in China. Some people who often associate with him take a fancy to the spacious space and low rent here, and rent some factories as studios or exhibition venues. The "snowball" of the "798" artists group rolled up like this. Because some factories belong to the typical modernist Bauhaus style, the whole factory has good planning and unique architectural style, which has attracted many artists to work and settle down, and gradually formed today's 798 art district. At present, nearly 200 institutions involved in culture and art have entered this field. According to incomplete statistics in March, 2005, among the 103 colleges and universities that entered the 798 Art Zone, there were mainly two categories: creation, exhibition and communication, and design, among which 59 were artistic creation, exhibition and communication (accounting for 57.3% of all colleges and universities) and 29 were design (including space design, advertising design, home furniture design, clothing and image design). In addition, there are some minor categories related to artistic creation, such as communication and distribution, bookstores and restaurants and bars.

At least 300 artists live directly in or take the 798 Art District as their main artistic creation space, some of whom come from abroad, including France, the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea and Singapore. There are famous artists such as Liu Suola (writer and musician), Hong Huang (publisher and publisher), Jonathan Lee (musician) and Li Xiangqun (sculptor). In the 798 Art District, there are also unknown people.

The area of 798 Art District rented by artists and their companies ranges from several thousand square meters to several tens of square meters. Among them, the world-renowned Ullens Art Company in Belgium (with a rental area of 4,500 square meters) and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (with a rental area of more than 4,000 square meters) have the largest rental area. Secondly, Li Xia rented space for galleries and exhibitions (2,000 square meters), Hong Huang rented space for publishing magazines such as My Opinion, Seventeen and Le (16 10 square meters), galleries (1350 square meters) and Xu Yong. Recently, the world-famous Guggenheim Art Company plans to rent a venue of 5000 to 10000 meters in the 798 Art District, but at present, there is no such large area for rent in the 798 Art District.

Up to now, in the original 7 18 joint factory building, about 654.38+10,000 square meters of factory buildings have been rented out to various art and cultural institutions at home and abroad, accounting for more than 50% of the total factory area. Due to the "cluster" effect and celebrity effect of artists, and the influence of "Diaf- Dashanzi International Art Festival" held twice since 2004, the influence of 798 Art District is growing. The first art festival (one month from April to May, 2004) attracted 80,000 visitors, of whom about 60% came from China and 40% came from overseas, including contemporary art representatives from major foreign cities such as Paris. 1more than 20 Chinese and foreign media reported the art festival, artists active here and their works. Some domestic and foreign cultural institutions and foundations sponsored this festival. The 2nd Art Festival (from April 30th to May 22nd, 2005), in 23 days, * * * held 65,438+009 performances, exhibitions, seminars and other artistic activities, attracting more than 80,000 visitors, with the largest number reaching nearly 10,000 in one day. From September 22nd to1October 7th, 2005,10,798 Art District held the "Biennale", which also achieved fruitful results. Many tourists come here with an audience of over 60,000. The above activities make the 798 Art District more and more famous, and the turnover of works of art is also increasing day by day.

Since 2004, the Swedish Prime Minister, the Swiss Prime Minister, the German Chancellor (Schroeder), the Austrian Prime Minister, the President of the European Union (Barroso), the Belgian Princess, Mrs. Annan and French President Jacques Chirac have all visited the 798 Art Zone. When Schroeder visited the 798 Art District, he lamented: "Bauhaus architecture decades ago is rare in Germany, but it is really rare in Beijing today!" Belgian princesses spent tens of thousands of dollars on artworks. Foreign leaders who have been to the 798 Art District or their wives all agree that the 798 Art District is very good. I didn't expect China to have such a good place to express active thoughts, which reflected the achievements of China's reform and opening up.

In 2003, 798 Art District was rated as one of the 22 most culturally iconic urban art centers in the world by Time magazine. In the same year, Beijing was selected as the World City of Newsweek 12 for the first time, because the 798 Art District turned an abandoned factory into a fashionable community. In 2004, Beijing was listed as one of the 20 developing cities in the world by Fortune magazine, and the reason for its selection was still 798.

In recent two or three years, more and more people have come to the 798 Art District to visit, observe, study, communicate and buy artworks. According to a sample survey, there were about 450,000 people in 2004 and more than 500,000 people visited this area in 2005. The ratio of overseas tourists to domestic tourists is about 4: 6. Although 798 is remote, the traffic is convenient. Drive along the Fourth Ring Road, take Jiuxianqiao Road around Dashanzi Island, and then enter 798 from No.2 entrance of Jiuxianqiao Road or No.4 entrance of Jiuxianqiao Road. You can find a safe place to park in the factory. There are 40 1, 402, 403, 4 18, 420, 405, 909, 955, 99 1, 988, 445 by bus. Be careful that taxis are not allowed to enter the factory, and the lights in the factory are dim after dark.

Walking around 798 for 20 minutes, there are now more than 100 cultural institutions in one square kilometer of Fiona Fang, including publishing, architectural design, fashion design, indoor home design, music performance, film and television broadcasting, artists' studios and so on. In addition to galleries, there are bars, restaurants, clothing stores, bookstores, yoga centers and so on. There are many choices here, including French food, Italian food and Sichuan food. Visitors can buy a guide map of the art district in a gallery or bar, or simply browse around by themselves.

Come in from Gate 4 of Jiuxianqiao and go straight. When you see the big signboard of Dashanzi Art District, you will reach the main body of the Art District. This passage is very famous in the art district, where the prototype of Dashanzi Art District was born. Centennial Impression Photography Gallery (China) has traditional avant-garde and other different kinds of photos, most of which were personally developed and produced by the boss Chen Guangjun. Some exhibitions here are hard to see at ordinary times, such as the just-concluded Jie Hailong solo exhibition of Project Hope.

798 Space (China) rents space for press conferences, fashion shows and other activities, and there are also installations-oriented exhibitions. The roof here is a unique zigzag arc, which was designed and supervised by East Germans 50 years ago. This style is rare in Germany.

The first gallery in Beijing Tokyo Art Project (Japan) Art District. Mainly based on contemporary art.

[Tianxia Salt (China)] Sichuan cuisine is authentic, and the chefs directly invited from small places in Sichuan have not been carved by big cities. Duck with a strange smell is a special dish.

["In the Cafe (China)] Cafe in Rui Huang. He said the specialty here is Italian coffee, which is much better than Starbucks. Pizza and sandwiches are good. The architectural style highlights the original appearance of the factory building.

"Seven Bar Materials Museum (China)" was opened by Mao, an important contemporary artist. If you have any feelings, you can also leave a message on the wallboard. Contemporary famous artists, Peng Yu, Phoebe, Bai, Cang Xin, Ma Shuqing, Xing, etc. gather here.

[25000- Li Long March Cultural Communication Center (China)] Lu Jie, a famous contemporary artist, recorded an activity he did in his early years: leading many artists to communicate with local artists along the Long March route. Now most of the routes have been completed. Folk art exhibitions here are very interesting, such as the works of Gao Fenglian, an old Shaanxi paper-cut artist, all over the wall.

Xiyuan Ji Ya Gallery (China) is mainly based on traditional paintings, and China's ancient paintings are reproduced very well.

[Cafe Vincent (France)] The most worthwhile French family hotel in the art district. The owner is Vincent, a Frenchman, who used to be the general manager of a famous French restaurant in Beijing. He studied cooking and management in Paris, France from the age of 15. The French pancakes here are very authentic. You can put meat and vegetables, as well as ice cream and fruit. Vincent's shooter is particularly good, that is, he mixed three kinds of wine in a small glass and dried it at one go. Vincent is very interesting. He wanted to say to the people who came, "We only have one life, and we should try to be happy every day."

Beijing Four Seasons Gallery (Singapore) is the largest professional gallery in the art district, and they specially opened a skylight for sparrows living on the roof. Sometimes, new pure art European films are shown here, which is not seen anywhere else in Beijing.

[38 18 Library (USA)] Teachers' Studio of Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts. Prints and slightly more traditional oil paintings are the mainstay, which is quite interesting.

Benevolence Club (China) is a membership system, and there are concerts and other activities.

Sui Jianguo Sculpture Studio (China) There are various sculptures outside the Sculpture Factory of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. One of Chairman Mao's arms is a sculpture of Sui Jianguo.

Blank Space (Germany) features the Sino-German Contemporary Art Exhibition.

Their gallery in London is the first gallery in the West dedicated to displaying the works of contemporary artists living and working in China.

[Guo Xian (China)] Female territory, sewing clothes by hand. 500 yuan, a tailor who teaches tourists for two months.

[Modern Bookstore (USA)] The most complete and best bookstore of contemporary art in China has introduced many foreign books.