8 Beijing Hidden Art Venues You Have to Know About

Here are  8 art venues  in Beijing that proposed an alternative to the traditional gallery space. I recommend you to call or make an appointment prior to your visit.

ARROW FACTORY

Unfotunately since I posted the article this amazing space has been closed.

Exhibition view at Arrow Factory an Art Venue based in Beijing's hutong

Exhibition view at Arrow Factory an Art Venue based in Beijing’s hutong

Arrow Factory is an independently run alternative art space in Beijing that is located in a small hutong alley in the city center. Arrow Factory reclaims an existing storefront and transforms it into a space for site-specific installations and projects that are designed to be viewed from the street 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The space is committed to presenting works by local and international artists that are provisional in nature, highly contingent upon the immediate environment and that form meaningful responses to the diverse economic, political and social conditions of its given locality and everyday lived experiences.

According to an article written by Jia Li (currently senior curator at Taikang Space.) and published in Artforum : “Under the state policy generally known as the “cleanup of ‘Holes in the Wall,’” most storefronts that had been opened inside downtown Beijing’s traditional courtyard by cutting new entrances in walls were ordered to be bricked up. […] Like tens of thousands of other roadside shops, Arrow Factory was forced to shape-shift into a bizarre setup, turni ng its window display into a peephole.”

Address: 38 Jianchang Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing (Off guozijian hutong)

BUNKER

Founded by Peng Xiaoyuan, The Bunker is an independent non-profit contemporary art platform that aims to nurture experimental, conceptual, site-sensitive work, as well as work that departs from an artist’s own established practice. Art practitioners are invited to submit exhibition proposals which are selected by The Bunker’s artistic committee.

Exhibitions are open by appointment or invitation only.

Address: No. 3 Zhang Zizhong Road, Dong Cheng District,

Contact:bunker@cangplus.com 13901189731

DRC N°12

Also founded by Peng Xiaoyuan, this non-profit space focuses on individual case studies of representative artists with an eye for the times of which they are a product. On the foundation of the artist’s own judgment, these case studies sift through important works and exhibitions from different periods to find threads of life experience and the formation of ideas, presenting previously unpublished artworks and documentary materials to uncover the establishment of an artist’s individual aesthetic system.

Exhibitions are open by appointment or invitation only

Address: DRC N°12 Gate 4, Building 12, Floor 8, Suite 082 Jianguomen Wai Diplomatic Residence Compound N01 Xiushui Street, Chaoyang District

Phone: 13901189731

Email: drc12@cangplus.com

INSTITUTE FOR PROVOCATION
IFP provides a platform for local and international contemporary art discourses, exchanges and exhibitions, opening up possibilities for sustaining dialogues between artistic, curatorial, social research and other modes of knowledge production.

Open every weekday from 10am to 6pm, please drop a message first if you want a visit.

Address: IFP moved from its Heizhima hutong courtyard to 798 Art Zone.

4/F, Suit B7-3A, 706 North 1rd St.,

Email: huwei@iprovoke.org

I: PROJECT SPACE

I: project space is the home of these on-going research projects:

Beijing22 is an open, independent, long-term curatorial project, which will investigate the dynamics of Beijing’s urban space in the five years preceding the Olympic Games in 2022;

Feminist South is a curatorial project and research platform spanning across 2017-2019 that aims to generate discussion on contemporary feminist practice located in and around Asia, Australia and the Pacific regions.

Tria a publishing platform and a residency program;

Achieving & Undermining Contradictions – Conference;

and a residency program.

Address:BanQiao  Hutong 10, Bei Xin Qiao

Phone: +86 18513629273

Email: contact@yi-projectspace.org

SALT PROJECT

SALT PROJECTS is a curatorial studio founded in 2016. Combining theory and practice, SALT understands research and curation as an open-ended activity, involving collaboration and inter-disciplinary approaches to art marking. SALT’s 17 square meters gallery hosts events such as performances, experimental lectures, screenings and sexy exhibitions.

Address: Originally located at N°4 Langjia hutong in Dongcheng district, the exhibition space has been closed in February 2019.

Their official Wechat account is still open: SALTPROJECTS

TELESCOPE

Telescope {artist studio} is a non-profit styled project space located in Cao Chang Di, Beijing. Its aim is to serve the emerging artists and art communities of China by providing exhibition, curatorial, writing, and mentoring opportunities in its gallery space.  Founded by James Elaine, US artist and curator, Telescope will also be a cultural bridge providing exposure and opportunities for China’s emerging artists abroad.

Address:10 CaoChangDi, Beijing
Right next to the Fifth Ring Bridge (by the traffic lights) is the lane where Telescope sits. Walk in (towards east) for about 100 meters, there Telescope is, to your left.
Email: contact_telescope@foxmail.com
Tel:(+86) 10 – 6433 7031 / Mobile: +8618801022571

Open THU – SUN / 11am– 6pm or on appointment

WYOMING PROJECT

Founded in 2017 by writer Li Bowen and photographer Sun Shi, hosts exhibitions and makes publications.

Address:  No.12 Houyongkang Hutong, Dongcheng, Beijing.

Contact and Reservation:  hello@wyomingproject.net

For more art venues in Beijing or other cities in China, I invite you to check the list of China’s art venues

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China Art Management