Record Number Of Young Chinese Artists And Students Have Moved To Berlin In Recent Years#
Not only is Chinese art "going west" -- with artwork by the likes of Fang Lijun, Sui Jianguo and Wang Guangyi appearing at this year's Paris Biennale -- but Chinese artists are going west as well, setting up shop or studying in record numbers in Berlin, according to Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Writing this week on the influx of Chinese artists, curators, and students that have moved to Berlin, lured by the city's culture and affordable studios and work facilities, the DBA points out that 70 Chinese art and music students currently attend Berlin's elite University of Fine Arts in Charlottenburg, while a record 772 Chinese students are registered at the nearby Technical University.
Berlin-born Dagmar Yu Dembski, 66, the child of German-Chinese parents, who in 2007 authored a 150-page book titled "Chinese in Berlin," praises the arrival of Chinese artists and art students in Berlin, saying "they enrich life in the city."
"Chinese people living here are scattered about in almost every part of Berlin," says Yu Dembski, who heads the Free University′s Confucious Institute in Berlin. "Most who arrive these days tend to be young, well educated, and eager to get ahead."
"Artists among them form networks, give lectures on Asian art, and occasionally sell their work in city underground galleries," she says.
Last month Shanghai-born expressionist artist Huang Yuanquing arrived in Berlin for an exhibition of his paintings at the city′s Gallery Albrecht, near the former Checkpoint Charlie crossing point in Berlin. An expert calligrapher who became a painter by chance after abandoning a career in science, Huang was paying his first visit to the German capital.
"Berlin′s so tranquil and attractive compared to Shanghai and Beijing, where the streets are often choked with traffic. I′m impressed," he told dpa.