Evicted artists stand against 'coldest winter'
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For artist Yu Gao, this might be the hardest winter she has ever experienced. Power and water supplies in her studio at Zhengyang Creative Art District in Beijing, where she lives and works, have been cut off for more than a month, as outdoor temperatures plummet well below zero.
Like the 50 other artists living here, Yu is facing the danger of being driven out of her home at any time: all of the buildings in the artist village are marked to be demolished,with the residents told to leaveas soon as possible.
"Where do I find a place in such a hurry?" Yu asked, explaining that the village received a notice on November 26, requiring all artists living there to move out before a December 5 deadline.
They refused to follow orders, but on the morning of December 5,the power supply was cut off and then, the heaters stopped working.
A week later, the water supply ended, making life for artists living in the village almost impossible and forcing many residents to reconsider their decision to stay.
Now the village residents are using candles to light up their nights and hot-water bottles to keep themselves warm. Each evening two or three artists keep a vigil, in case the developers break in and start pulling down their studios.
"We just need a place to settle down and work in peace, but it seems so hard," Yu said, adding that her lease does not expire until the end of May and many have leases that are even longer.
"It is impossible to work regularly in such bad conditions," said artist Zhang Wei, who opened his studio in the district in 2007.
Zhang said that they have no idea about where to go, because many other art centers in Chaoyang District are facing the same problem.
"Where is the peaceful island for us forever?" Zhangasked. "It seems that there isn't one."
Zhengyang Creative Art District is indeed not the only art center in danger of being demolished. Artists in other districts such as 008 International Art District and Dongying Art District, are also being evicted.
An official from Changdian village in Chaoyang District said, on condition of anonymity, that the art centers are being demolished due to urban-rural integration in Chaoyang District.
He refused to disclose details about whether there was a plan to resettle the thousands of artists currently living and working in the art centers, but did say that artists should ask their landlords for compensation.
However, according to the artists living in Zhengyang Creative Art District, no formal notice has been issued by the government indicating that artists should seek compensation from their landlords and not one landlord has acknowledged responsibility for compensation.
Artist Zhang Wei told the Global Times that almost every artist in the district spent a large sum of money repairing and decorating their studios after signing their original lease contracts.
"It will cost us a lot of money and effort if we are forced to find other places to live and work and decorate them again," Zhang said."What if we are asked to move out again and again as we settle down at other places later?"
Artist Xiao Ge said that while they totally understand the government's plans for urbanization, they need more time to relocate and answers about where it would be safe and secure to live and create art in the long term.
Xiao is organizing an art project called "Warm Winter," aimed at calling attention to the issue.
The project includes a series of art activities such as exhibitions, performances and seminars,all focusing on the same topic: showing the artists' resolution to fight against being removed, expressed in an artistic way and held successively of more than 20 art centers in Chaoyang District.
The first step of the project was held Tuesday at Zhengyang Creative Art Zone with hundreds of artists from more than 10 art centers participating.
Acclaimed artist Huang Rui from 798 Artistic District took part, staging a unique performance. Wearing a Taoist costume and holding a similarly-styled umbrella, Huang stood quietly outside in the cold for more than an hour. Printed on his costume was the English word "China"and two Chinese characters"chai na," which mean "demolish" and are interestingly homophonic of the English word.
Artist Wu Yiqiang from Dongying Art District undressed and huddled nakedly against ruins of buildings that had already been demolished. The winter day was harsh, with temperatures 10 below zero. His performance showed his helplessness against the demolition.
"We are artists, so we have to show our feelings in an artistic way firstly and we hope that more people will pay attentions to the issue," Xiao Ge explained.
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