798 District

So, unfortunately with this no-blogger situation, I can't post pictures or links or files or much of anything but words (use your words!). Ed, though, is in the downloading/selecting/uploading hamster wheel, so please check there for photographic evidence of what's happs with us. I think there's a link on the right...

Ed and I travel very compatibly, but we do have one fundamental difference in style; he feels no obligation to do tourist crap that doesn't interest him. Like, he could comfortably go to Paris and skip the Eiffel Tower if he wasn't in the mood. I, however, feel a gnawing
guilt about not checking off the tourist highlight reel. Its like I think the dude at Immigration is going to ask how many hours I spent in the Forbidden City (none yet, incidentally).

All this is to say that District 798 satisfied both of our requirements for a couple of afternoons well spent. Its an area on the fringes of the city that is made up of re-purposed factories now housing artist work spaces, lofts, cafes and galleries. There are probably one to two hundred galleries throughout the district and a few smaller museums.

Given the restrictions in China, its interesting to see that the fine arts have seemingly escaped the censors. A significant number of the shows deal with social and political topics. The artists are criticize Mao freely and do so by subverting the same iconography used by the communist party.  Because the district is so large and there are dozens of large courtyards sprinkled throughout, there is plenty of space for large format installations. Big, naked, dudes seem to be a favorite subject for sculpture. And there is one plaza filled entirely with life sized metal wolves. They're highly photogenic.

Since coffee and art are like peas and carrots, dozens of small cafes have sprung up amidst the galleries offering lattes and bubble tea.  These highly air conditioned oases are a nice break from the 100 degree weather and give you a boost to see ten or twelve more
galleries before hopping a crowded bus out of this alternate universe, back to Beijing.