Currently up at ArtInfo is a new story about the possibility of Beijing’s Caochangdi arts district being redeveloped (i.e. demolished). But how real is the threat? Over on the ShanghaiEye blog, the hearsay is that the district is probably safe for another two years – or could go at any minute.
Either way, a new book about Caochangdi at least makes for a compelling document of the region’s emergence as an art hub. “Caochangdi, Beijing Inside Out” by Pi Li (Boers-Li Gallery) and architects Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray (BASE Studios), chronicles the recent transformation of the district, aptly summed up by the book’s subtitle: “Farmers, Floaters, Taxi Drivers, Artists, and the International Art Mob Challenge and Remake the City.” It remains to be seen whether the government will “challenge” them back.
Related reading:
Full ArtInfo article here
Recent post by Big Red & Shiny (American art blog) about a trip to Caochangdi here
Article by China Daily on Caochangdi’s rise (Sep 09) here
More on the book:
“Caochangdi, one of more than 300 urban villages in the city of Beijing, tells a specific story about itself and its mostly illegal residents (including farmers, floaters, taxi drivers, and world class artists), but it also has embedded within it both the problems and the possibilities of a new urban space redefining the city of Beijing at this pivotal point in human history when cities make up half of the world’s population. The authors, who live and work in Caochangdi, dissect the multiple phenomena that form this dynamic urban condition.”
Timezone8, October 2009
Upon returning to New York after her first visit to China, Soraya Broukhim provides a review of Wang Qingsong’s "When World's Collide" exhibition of photographs and videos at ICP. (
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[...] Interesting essay here from Paul Chan in the new eflux journal. ************* Red Box Review r ounds up the Caochangdi rumours here. Also nice new site [...]