Gallery Weekend Beijing Drew Nearly 200,000 In-Person Visitors Despite a Regional Audience and Enduring Travel Restrictions
Dealers saw robust attendance and encouraging signs for the future of in-person art events.
Installation view of BANK MABSOCIETY at the Visitor section of Gallery Weekend Beijing.
After the turmoil that stalled much of the 2020 art calendar, Gallery Weekend Beijing marks one of the first signs of a return to interacting with art in real life and so far there’s been robust demand.
Originally scheduled for March, the fifth-annual edition of the event was postponed to May and ran for a week before ending yesterday (though some visiting galleries are continuing their runs for additional weeks). The surprisingly high number of in-person visitors 199,000 according to the official count largely came from the region.
Art Seen: Gallery Weekend Beijing Brings Domestic and International Creators to the Capital, Apr 27-May 2 Apr 27, 2021 8:30 am | 1 comment | 39 reads
Although fans of the motion picture arts will have to wait until August for their big celebration, the Beijing International Film Festival, fans of just about every other art form will be kept busy over the next five days as
Gallery Weekend Beijing (GWBJ) kicks off today, Apr 27, and runs through May 2. This year marks the fifth iteration of the festival when the capital plays host to domestic and international creators of contemporary art and performance, spread throughout the city’s premier art hub, 798 Art District, and various other venues dotted across town.
What was your first purchase (and how much did you pay for it)?
Reading by Li Shan, an acrylic work on canvas created by the Chinese contemporary artist in New York, was the work that began my collection. It is a conceptual painting that originated from a sketch of an overall series of biological studies. I had the honor to know Li Shan through “The Edge of Vision,” an exhibition I curated back in 2014 at Linda Gallery. As one of the most important artists of Chinese contemporary art, Li has participated in local and international exhibitions and events, and his practice has experienced radical developments along the way, including his interest in BioArt.