The first five years
07/09/05 10:45
It seems a long time since Australia's Asialink sent Lindy Lee to be it's first artist-in-residence in the early nineties at the Beijing Art Academy – a non-teaching facility for some of China's leading official artists. Then, it was a tiny studio on the 3rd floor of a, very often, lonely building. There was not much interaction with the other residents, partly because of language barriers, but mainly because the other artists were doing very conservative work compared to the young avant-garde being shipped over from Australia. The common ground was not forthcoming. Accommodation was at the nearby Central Academy of Art and Design (a tertiary level arts school). This was fine for a while, but three or four months in a small 'suite' off limits to the students and with an evening curfew did not lend itself to the interaction and exchange expected by the residents. Jayne Dyer went through this, but later the residents were able to rent simple one-bedroom apartments for their time here. This presented another set of problems to the non-Chinese speaking newcomer such as locating and setting up each place, dealing with landlords, the local police and neighbourhood committees, settling in, and then the neighbours – once everything was sorted out their time was almost up! (Read more)