On the afternoon of August 30, 2018, the first “Beijing Dangdai” was grand opened at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center. As a brand new exhibition and one of the important components of the 6th Beijing Huimin Cultural Consumption Season, “Beijing Dangdai” is presented with the honour of Cadillac, the chief partner. While taking the form of the exhibition as a breakthrough point, Beijing Dangdai is committed to promoting the value of Chinese contemporary art, and regards contemporary art galleries closely related to China as the core partner and community of destiny. The aim is to create a top-level platform for art trading, display and exchange that is closely related to the current art ecology and all levels of society, and to introduce contemporary Chinese art that has acquired cultural subjectivity and systematic value to the cultural market and the public.

As for the positioning and purpose of “Beijing Dangdai”, just as the artistic director of “Beijing Dangdai” Mr. Bao Dong summed up in three sentences: to make an expo for Beijing that matches its status as a cultural center; To create an fair for China that is closely related to our contemporary art; To create an exposition for the world that reflects its cultural diversity and historical possibilities.

“Beijing Dangdai” 2018 is divided into “STORY”, “VALUE”, “FUTURE”, “ENERGY” and “Cadillac WONDER” five sectors, the first exhibition period from August 30 to September 2, 2018.

To Curate the Artistic Value
“STORY” is the curatorial unit of “Beijing Dangdai”. As the value engine of the whole exhibition, “Beijing Dangdai” invites artists and their important works to participate in the framework of artistic value combing through the way of appointing curators, and provides a cognitive map with a valuable narrative path for contemporary art appreciation and collection. This year’s “STORY” focuses on contemporary Chinese painting, under the theme of “Painting Mapping”, 60 painting artists participated in the special exhibition of 1,500 square meters.

Through the five clues of “post-reality”, “ultra-traditional”, “abstract field”, “anti-taste” and “meta-painting”, the curator hopes to “map” a cognitive map of contemporary Chinese painting by taking the basic problem orientation and practice path of contemporary China as coordinates. These basic questions concern how Chinese art responds to external influences in modern times, such as the tradition of realism and modernism in Western art; It also includes how contemporary Chinese artists re-understand their own traditions, such as the tradition of literati painting and folk art, and the tradition of long-term interaction between the two. In the face of this series of external and internal traditions, contemporary Chinese painting is also faced with many current issues, such as art and society, elite and people, international and local, known and unknown… Then have to be involved in the “contemporary” this ideological event and experience encounter.

It is closely related to China itself
“VALUE” and “FUTURE” are the gallery units of “Beijing Dangdai”, which invited 32 galleries from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea to participate. Among them, the 25 galleries participating in the “VALUE” module are closely related to China and have a sense of gallerism, and they share the 3,000 square meters of space of this unit, showing the value of a high standard and diversified contemporary art gallery. “FUTURE” is the unit of “Beijing Dangdai” to present the latest artistic trends, and the art creation of specific new media, new types and new themes is displayed through gallery booths in special areas. This “Future” section focuses on photography, video, video installation, media art, visual installation and other pan-video art, with a total of 9 galleries participating.

The participating galleries of the first “Beijing Dangdai” are: Arario Gallery, Echo, AYE Gallery, BANK, Beijing Commune, Ben Gallery, Boer-li Gallery, C Longkou Space, Evergreen Gallery, Contemporary Tang Art Center, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Capsule Shanghai, Blank Space, Kiang Malingue, Maeller Gallery, Buding Gallery, Magician Space, Ink Studio, Pace Gallery, A Thousand Plateau Art Space, Chamber Gallery, Hunsand Space, Tabula Rasa Gallery, Antenna Space, Vanguard Gallery, Star Space, Asian Contemporary Art Space, Asian Art Center, Yang Gallery, Station Chinese Contemporary Art Institution and this shop.

Lead life aesthetics with art
“ENERGY” is a special sector set up by Beijing Dangdai to combine contemporary art and life aesthetics, hoping to connect the public with contemporary art through design, fashion and pop culture: UCCA Art Store has once again collaborated with designer He Rongkai (Atmosphere Design) to release a series of limited-edition design products and works of art inspired by renowned artist Xu Bing’s representative work “The Book of the Earth”, creating a concept store “Xu Bing: Ideas and Methods”, which echoes the exhibition of the same name held at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art at the same time.

The exhibition also invited young actor Dou Xiao and artist Guo Hongwei to jointly release limited art products with the concept of “art into life” as the starting point, and appeared in “Beijing Dangdai”. Two representatives from different fields will perfectly combine art with life and public welfare through this cooperation, and realize inspiration in cross-border collision; This special collaboration not only released limited edition art products, but also presented their understanding of inspiration and creation, art and life from different perspectives through creative videos. The proceeds from the sale of this series of limited edition art products will be donated to the Jiekou Native Art Fund for art education for autistic children.

In addition, the sixth season of “Public Star Design” has been supported by star ambassadors Jessie J, Xie Na, Guan Xiaotong, Han Geng, Rocket Girl 101, inviting the audience to witness the artistic talent of stars on the scene; The “Fashion auction” invited each guest to carry idle love items to the “Beijing Era” site free exchange, to achieve the United States logistics transfer, and several celebrities’ private items for public auction, auction proceeds will be used for the “art dream package” public welfare project, to help children in poor areas aesthetic education.

YOHO! The company YO! GALLERY and YO! COFFEE. Bringing trendy culture into contemporary art, with trendy artist Antoine TAVA/ Grafflex/ Judas Arrieta/ Robyn Ward/ MOA&SEB debuting at “Beijing Contemporary”; Invite the fashion brand THETHING and artists Cheng Ran, Huang Haixin, Liang Wei, Lu Pingyuan and Xiao Hanqiu cross-border cooperation, launched several special customized T-shirts will also be sold at the “Beijing Contemporary” site for a limited time; There is also a magical artist – Wan Cloud to create YO! COFFEE. Space invites you to taste a selection of desserts from COVA, a century-old dessert shop owned by LVMH Group.The original furniture brand “Suyuan” creates a comfortable chat room in the “Beijing Dangdai” scene, expresses the aesthetic exploration of the inner spirit of Chinese culture with the design, and takes “chat” seriously.

Take publicity as the core of work
“WONDER” is the sector of “Beijing Dangdai” presenting public art. We will present the most scenic, communicative and participatory art works of contemporary art in the core plaza at the entrance of the exhibition hall and the atrium of Hall 1. This “Public Expectation” exhibition is two large-scale installation works by well-known Chinese artists Zhou Li and Wang Yuyang. This unit is presented by Cadillac Honors, the chief partner of “Beijing Contemporary”.

In addition to these five sectors, this “Beijing Dangdai” is also supported by the chief art partner Gallery Week Beijing, and through different ways to cooperate with other brands or institutions, in order to let more people know about the latest achievements of art today, and update people’s understanding of the value of contemporary art. Among them, DIOR cooperated with artist Hong Hao to exhibit LADY DIOR limited handbag on site; Parisian Flower sponsors media afternoon tea, collectors dinner and evening party; Jiangnan Fabrics selected the works of three artists, Wang Guangle, Liang Quan and Liao Guohe, and specially designed and produced the VIP card bag and canvas bag of the first “Beijing Dangdai”. The first “Beijing Dangdai” not only combs the value of contemporary Chinese art internally, but also regards external communication as its core work. In the spirit of integration and cooperation, it aims to build an integrated platform to promote the development of contemporary Chinese art, and hopes to explore an organizational way to connect with local experience in the context of globalization, hoping to stimulate the vitality of the industry in depth. Connect the vast social space.