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Optimistically billed as a rival to New York's SoHo district, this Soviet-designed former weapons factory is a center for local modern art and fashion. Factory 798's long-term survival is uncertain, with Beijing's mayor musing that they would "look, regulate, and discuss" the use of the space, which the owners and the Chaoyang municipal government hope will become a technology park. Purchase a map for ¥2 (25¢/15p) on arrival. From entrance no. 2, you'll soon arrive at the Hart Center of Arts on the right, which holds regular screenings of alternative films and also sells interesting hand-painted T-shirts. Further down on the right is the remarkable Bauhaus-inspired 798 Space, still daubed with slogans offering praise to Mao. The most consistently interesting exhibitions are held by 798 Photo, immediately opposite. Turn right and right again as you emerge from the building to find the first gallery to open in Factory 798, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (www.tokyo-gallery.com), which boasts a formidable stable of local and international artists. Turn left and duck down a narrow lane, to emerge at the Gao Brothers' cuddly Beijing New Art Projects (tel. 010/8456-6660). At Cafe (Aite Kafei; tel. 010/6438-7264), just across the road, is the best of Dashanzi's middling cafes. If a visit to 798 whets your appetite for more avant-garde Chinese art, many of 798's artists, faced with spiraling rents and an increasingly commercial atmosphere, have moved to Song Zhuang, a village to the east of town (www.artistvillagegallery.com).
Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Beijing, 5th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Factory 798 (Qijiuba Gongchang)
Optimistically billed as a rival to New York's SoHo district, this Soviet-designed former weapons factory is a center for local modern art and fashion. Factory 798's long-term survival is uncertain, with Beijing's mayor musing that they would "look, regulate, and discuss" the use of the space, which the owners and the Chaoyang municipal government hope will become a technology park. Purchase a map for ¥2 (25¢/15p) on arrival. From entrance no. 2, you'll soon arrive at the Hart Center of Arts on the right, which holds regular screenings of alternative films and also sells interesting hand-painted T-shirts. Further down on the right is the remarkable Bauhaus-inspired 798 Space, still daubed with slogans offering praise to Mao. The most consistently interesting exhibitions are held by 798 Photo, immediately opposite. Turn right and right again as you emerge from the building to find the first gallery to open in Factory 798, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (www.tokyo-gallery.com), which boasts a formidable stable of local and international artists. Turn left and duck down a narrow lane, to emerge at the Gao Brothers' cuddly Beijing New Art Projects (tel. 010/8456-6660). At Cafe (Aite Kafei; tel. 010/6438-7264), just across the road, is the best of Dashanzi's middling cafes. If a visit to 798 whets your appetite for more avant-garde Chinese art, many of 798's artists, faced with spiraling rents and an increasingly commercial atmosphere, have moved to Song Zhuang, a village to the east of town (www.artistvillagegallery.com).
Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Beijing, 5th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.
