Under the pressure of the current global economic crisis the entire art industry is feeling the heat, and none more so than art districts. In the last year or so, art districts everwhere but especially in places like Beijing’s 798 have seen a cooling off of interest and a fewer and fewer signs of huge glamorous exhibitions of the past. Now the district mainly attracts art lovers who come for the day on a Saturday or Sunday, draw by a sense of curiosity to see this modern art so berated in the press.

There is no one who would wish for this steadily growing stream of weekend visitors to disappear. As news about 798 spreads by word of mouth and through the press, more and more people are going to be drawn to the area. This has of course meant that over the last two or so years, 798 has gone from cult status to that of common cultural attraction.

It is this type of publicity that has already lead many of the original artists to abandon the District in droves. Art needs space to breathe and think, it needs peace and quite and an artist especially needs affordable studios in which to work. Since the popularization of the area as a space to work and view modern artistic creations, 798 has seen a large influx of galleries, art centers, design companies and cafes, all hoping to have themselves a slice of 798 cache. This in turn has of course driven rent through the roof.

With a period of great prosperity leading up to the economic crisis, the estate agents of the 798 zone inflated rents across the board, including those for 2009 which came as adding insult to injury to an already economically crippled art industry in Beijing. Naturally, as many galleries had failed to sell a single painting since summer 2008, this forced many to shut up shop.

The question then is why did the estate agents yet again raise property prices for 2009? The answer lies with the new influx of foreign and domestic commercial labels. For the agents it was a dream come true when various well know design and fashion labels, as well as other brands expressed interest in renting spaces in the lofty 798 galleries. There was no contest between the hard hitting money making realism of commercial brands, verse the impractical and creative world of modern art. Seeing the slow but sure commercialization of the 798 Art District is reminiscent of New York’s Soho District in the 1970s and 80s, when art and creativity gave way to profit. There are many in the Chinese art world who hope Beijing will not go down the same road. It would be ironic if 798 were to go from being a cultural to a commercial zone. Very much in the spirit of ‘Chinese characteristics’.

Expat Corner > Moganshan Lu and Beyond – Shanghai’s Art Scene Past and Present

More galleries and exhibitions in Shanghai |　Beijing | Guangzhou

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