Art Attack: News, Red Lanterns, FT Debate, and Irish Shenanigans!
I have whiplash from how quickly things have accelerated since the chunjie lull. Between book festivals, new exhibits, ballets and Irish celebrations, there are TONS to see and do. But hey, we’re not complaining! The temperature’s lovely (even if the air quality is not), so shed those layers and hit the streets.
This is a good time to do it, as China is pushing to make art and culture more accessible to all. In Beijing, this means the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) opened its doors to the public for free starting March 2.
According to a Xinhua news article, China has plans to make every public art gallery freely accessible to the public within the next two years, too, so it will only get easier to become that bonafide culture guru you’ve always dreamed of being. There you’ll be, in all your sophisticated glory, standing next to the guy who snuck in to wash his vegetables in the museum bathroom … Ain’t egalitarianism grand?
Moving along, check out all the exhibits and events going on this weekend and into next week:
Art exhibits:
Until April 10: Xia Xing paints images from the news, exploring our fleeting yet archival relationship with news media in his exhibit “2007/2008/2009/2010,” at Galerie Urs Meile.
Until April 18: Group exhibition “You Are Not A Gadget,” where four artists struggle with technology’s hold over our lives, has been extended at Pekin Fine Arts, much to our delight.
Until Mar 30: Lu Xinjian’s “City DNA II” starts with Google Earth images, which the artist then paints into abstracts of patterns and lines. At F2 Gallery.
Opens this Saturday: “New Photography in Korea” (see photo at very top) gives us a mouthwatering taste of South Korea’s oft-overlooked but vital and ever-growing art scene. At Galerie Paris-Beijing.
Ballet:
Zhang Yimou’s “Raise the Red Lantern” fills the NCPA stage with yards of fabric. And legs, lots and lots of legs. See the sensational spectacle Saturday at 7.30pm. Tickets here.
Capital M Literary Festival:
The 5-star restaurant’s first Beijing lit fest finishes with a flourish on March 12, with their 2nd Annual Great Financial Times Debate. This year, journalists and other great thinkers discuss the question “Is the globalization of culture a force for good?”
Kiss me, I’m Irish. Or, just take me to a couple cultural events:
March 18, Katie Targett-Adams & the Ireland Seely Band lead the audience into a reverie of Gaelic song and dance at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. 7.30pm. Tickets here.
This Saturday (Mar 12), “Irish Wave 2” kicks off at the China Central Mall. It’s an exhibit of contemporary art and installations spanning a spectrum of themes that give insight into contemporary Irish culture.
