BUILDING A MARKET IN CHONGQING
The general perception is that there are plenty of artists in Chongqing but no ‘art scene’ has developed as yet. By ‘art scene’ they refer to collectors and galleries. As anyone with an interest in Asian contemporary art will know, the main focus, due apparently to the concentration of fortunes is in Hong Kong. In fact with its booming property market Chongqing is not short of money, but it does lack a ‘cultured’ middle-class who might be cultivated into art buyers. Chongqing is known for it’s loud feisty women with supple skin (the humid weather they say keeps it peachy), and a rustic character that despite the persistent urbanisation allows it to retain an intimate charm. This has especially endured in Huangjue Ping, the area where I’m staying, with its night market and barbeques till 2am which according to locals the government will clear away and replace with sanitary shopping malls in their next round of development. Amazingly the soviet style architecture which lines the main shopping street in my area is only 10 years old. It looks more like 40. Poor quality concrete is used and so becomes dilapidated almost immediately. When I visited my friend’s 27th floor apartment yesterday, which was built only 1 year ago, he showed me where the wall had begun to crumble round the door frame. This sense of impermanence, get-rich quick building demonstrates the foundations on which the new money has been established. The market is being flooded with too much property development and the bubble will burst. Perhaps art could be a good investment for the future for the fragile new middle classes in Chongqing, if only they can be persuaded.
The closest city to Chongqing with a more developed ‘art scene’ is Chengdu about 350km away, then there is of course Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai which artists who are based here are constantly making jaunts to. The gallery we are exhibiting at, Ceiling Space is a new venture for Chongqing, programming only started in September last year. So far they have been working with local artists mostly but plan to bring over some international in the future through a partnership with Goethe Institute. Ceiling Gallery promotes conceptual art. From what I can see this is the first conceptual art gallery proper for the city and so it’s opening could beckon a new dawn for its art world reputation. When I met Meg Maggio in Beijing prior to coming to Chongqing she described Chongqing as the Boston to New York (when comparing it to Beijing). The reality left me disappointed. The curator Tian Meng comes across as loyal to the province and strong minded, I think you need to be to resist the pull to a bigger city or the constant refrain that “no exhibitions worth a thought ever happen in Chongqing”. This platitude which local artist Oliver Gosling quotes to me seems to go against not only Ceiling but longer term projects which have been taking place in the city. Organ Haus, run by prosperous local teacher and artist Yang Shu has been programming an international residency programme and providing opportunities for Sichuan artists for several years. Through a partnership with Triangle Arts Trust and Gasworks Gallery (London) he has bought prominent names such as Alexander de Cunah to Chongqing. However, this is not a commercial programme which has the forward planning to build an art market in Chongqing. This kind of activity is great for building an audience for art with events by artists from outside who bring a fleeting energy for the locals to enjoy.
