Christmas Breakfast and 798 Art District

After a Christmas breakfast (or maybe you could call it lunch as we met at 12 am) at Claudia's apartment with a little bit of Christmas decoration and genuine German Weihnachtsplätzle which we had bought in a South-German bakery the plan was to discover Dashanzi Art District or 798 as it is also called. The district had been recommended to me by an American friend.

798 used to be a factory area that looks abandoned and has a somewhat shabby but alternative flair. Now many ateliers found their place there. Main focus is modern Chinese art. I loved strolling around there and the art hopping from one place to the next. A lot of Chinese people were there as well who combinded their Sunday afternoon walk with art.

The art itself was quite manifold. Some paintings in one gallery at the first look looked like traditional Chinese landscape painting, but on a closer look you could notice that the landscape painting was not that traditional due to the environmental pollution the painter had integrated, e.g. dirty rivers or factory chimneys.

I was astonished how much of the art coonveyed strong criticism - including self-critisism. And most of the art - though being modern - had something Chinese about it.

I most liked the photography (but this is maybe due to the fact that generally I quite like realistic photography and video installations).

Zhu Hendong's photography with his creative photos of landscapes and Chinese people attracted me as well as some pieces of the Gao brothers and the nice hutong photos of Ambroise Tezenas (being a French artists, but taking photos of Beijing).

I shall add some art to today's blog so that you can also have an impression. The photo in black and white is called "The last generation of lilly-footed women" (Artist: Li Nan). It used to be tradition in some part of China to tie the feet of women in a special form to keep them very small. Please check the link if you are interested in this former cultural pecularity.

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/China/04/hutchins/hutchins.htm